Crystal Palace reportedly set to offer Carlton Cole a surprise Premier League return

Yeah, we thought he'd retired too...

Crystal Palace have had better starts to a Premier League season. In fact, every club in Premier League history have had better starts to a season than the current Palace squad... Palace have lost all six of their league matches this season. They've also failed to score a single goal. Frank De Boer was given the boot as manager after four of these games, with Roy Hodgson failing to turn things around in the two matches that have followed. The most recent of those games came at high-flying Manchester City last Saturday afternoon. After a decent first half, they conceded on the stoke of half-time and went on to ship a further four goals after the break. A miserable afternoon at The Etihad was compounded by the news that Christian Benteke, the club's only senior striker, had picked up an injury. After the game, Hodgson confirmed that Benteke would miss Palace's next match - away at Manchester United - confirming it seemed that the Belgian had sustained some kind of damage to his knee ligaments. With no fit senior strikers currently on their books, it now appears Palace could be set to turn to Carlton Cole, last seen in the Premier League for West Ham over two years ago. Now 33, The Mirror report that contact has been made with Cole, who was released by Indonesian side Persib Bandung last month - only five months on from joining them.