JEAN-PHILIPPE MATETA wore a water polo-style helmet on his return from a horror head injury.

The Crystal Palace striker was taken to hospital after being on the receiving end of a sickening tackle in the last round of the FA Cup against Millwall.

The Eagles won the clash 2-1 to set up Saturday’s quarter final clash with Fulham, but Mateta has not played since.

He required 25 stitches in his ear and was spotted wearing a big bandage in a recent interview.

Now on his return to action Mateta is wearing a water polo-style helmet to protect his ear.

There was serious planning to put into the helmet’s design, with three versions considered.

Mateta, 27, wore the helmet in a behind-closed-doors friendly, with Eagles boss Oliver Glasner joking afterwards that the helmet was better suited to water polo.

He said: “It’s like a water polo helmet. In water polo it’s so they don’t get water into their ears, he has it just on one side. It sounds crazy, but we are used to it.

“I said to him maybe you should try [water polo] because he’s tall enough.

“It looks a bit strange but he says he feels comfortable so let’s see.

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“When he scores a header, then it was the right mask and the right protection.

“Our doctor and the team did a great job finding the right protection. Everything is approved by the FA.

'Endangered his life' - Crystal Palace owner gives Mateta injury update live on BBC and slams 'reckless' Millwall star

MATETA UPDATE

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“There were three different ones. He tried one like you use to ride a motorbike but he couldn’t train with this because it was too heavy.

“I said to the doctor I remember Petr Cech wearing a helmet but the ear was free so we needed the full helmet. Then we found the right one.

“He tried in training which one fits him best and doesn’t influence him in the wrong way.

“If I believed it was a problem, I wouldn’t play him but it looks like it isn’t a problem.

“The last 10 days he’s had this protection and he did well in training so I didn’t find a reason to talk about this.”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk's losing streak continued on Wednesday.

Hours after Republicans in Wisconsin lost a state Supreme Court race in Wisconsin where Musk spent tens of millions of dollars of his own money, shares of his flagship electric car company fell upon news that it had badly missed Wall Street estimates for the number of vehicles it had delivered in the first quarter of 2025.

As reported by Market Watch, Tesla revealed that "it delivered more than 336,000 vehicles during the first quarter, down from 387,000 deliveries a year ago."

To put this number into context, Market Watch notes that it "was well below the average analyst estimate compiled by FactSet of 404,000 vehicles" and it "was also lower than the 'whisper' number, or what Wall Street was quietly expecting, with even the most bullish analyst projecting a number in the 360,000 range."

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Although Tesla blamed the disappointing deliveries on what Market Watch describes as "the changeover to refreshed Model Y production lines" that "led to several weeks of lost production," it's also a reality that the company has been the target of a concerted boycott campaign led by progressive groups to protest Musk's role as the head of President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency.

Sales of Tesla in Europe have fallen off a cliff in recent months, as car buyers on that continent have revolted against Musk's support for far-right political parties such as Germany's Alternative für Deutschland.