The Socceroo midfielder made his Huddersfield return in last week’s Premier League draw with Swansea City.
Now after getting through that unscathed, Terriers boss Wagner thinks the 27-year-old Sydneysider is now set to hit his peak again as they take on Palace in a crunch clash.
That will be music to the ears of Australia coach Bert van Marwijk ahead of the World Cup in Russia. And Huddersfield, deep in a relegation dogfight, need Mooy at his best if they are to avoid the drop straight back down to the Championship/
“It was exactly what we wanted,” Wagner said.
“We hoped after his injury that Aaron will be back the week of the Swansea game.
“This was the case, he got his minutes and I think it was a good first game for him because we had a lot of possession he touched the ball often.
“There was less defending but when he had to, he had to defend properly to avoid counter attacks and he did it well for the time he was on the field.
“Now he has another week’s training in his legs and he’ll make another step in his performance compared to last week."
Mooy started in central midfield against Swansea and played for 69 minutes before he was replaced by Danny Williams.
The Terriers dominated the encounter with the Swans with 80% possession, 18 shots on goal compared with their opponents one and 12 corner kicks to none, but could not find an elusive goal.
The Australian’s route to Huddersfield’s first- team has been cleared somewhat by the broken leg suffered by fellow American midfielder Williams, which has ruled him out of the rest of the season.
But Wagner warned Mooy he will not just be able to walk into his starting XI because of the presence of Denmark’s Philip Billing and Jonathan Hogg, who has been mentioned in the reckoning for England’s national squad.
“It’s a loss but we have to be totally honest, even now we still have competition in this area, despite Danny’s injury,” the German said.
