James Tomkins criticises Liverpool's Marko Grujic for 'disgusting' challenge 'that was brushed under the carpet'
The defender missed Crystal Palace's next three games following Grujic's tackle late last month
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Crystal Palace’s James Tomkins has hit out against Marko Grujic over the tackle that left him sidelined for three weeks, branding it “disgusting” while arguing that “the challenge was brushed under the carpet”.
After being subject to the Liverpool player's challenge at Anfield on 23 April, Tomkins went on to miss Palace’s following games against Tottenham, Burnley and Manchester City.
The Eagles lost all three matches, imperilling their Premier League status, before securing victory against Hull at the weekend to confirm their place in England’s top flight for next season.
Tomkins returned for Palace’s 4-0 rout of the Tigers and revealed after the game that not enough had been made of Grujic’s tackle which, he argued, could have resulted in a long-term injury.
“The challenge was brushed under the carpet a bit,” he said. “I’m not one to complain about the physical aspects of the game and I accept opposing players are going to be competitive but I thought the tackle was disgusting really.
“I managed to get away with it because it could have been a lot worse. I worked very hard to get myself back to fitness and just wasn’t quite ready for City last week but I was very happy to come in against Hull even though there’s still a bit of pain.
"We’ve had a lot of injuries, obviously Mama (Sakho) has been great for us and Scott (Dann) has been recovering from a long-term injury.
"We’ve had Martin Kelly playing centre-back even though he’s normally a right-full so he deserves a lot of credit for stepping in and playing so well.
“Last week against City was a difficult game for the entire team but we all deserve a lot of credit for the performance we put in against Hull.”
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