🔗 Share this article

One might excuse Oliver Glasner for preferring to spend a restful few days with his loved ones in Austria before Christmas, instead of preparing for Crystal Palace's twenty-ninth fixture of the campaign—a League Cup last-eight clash against Arsenal. However, the notion that Palace might prioritize other tournaments was swiftly dismissed by their boss.

"No, I do not believe that," declared Glasner following his team's side's 4-1 defeat to Leeds. "If somebody informs me that we lose on purpose, the following day I'm no longer the manager any more."

There is a marked contrast in Glasner's philosophy to domestic cup tournaments relative to his predecessor, Roy Hodgson. This first was evident during Palace's run to the League Cup quarter-finals in his debut full season in command. Under Hodgson, the team had previously been eliminated from each of the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup when Glasner assumed control at Selhurst Park. Conversely, Glasner picked his first-choice lineup for victories over Norwich, QPR, and Aston Villa, setting up a encounter with Arsenal.

That previous last-eight match concluded in a three-two defeat at the Emirates Stadium, due to a somewhat debated hat-trick from Gabriel Jesus, despite Palace having led at the interval. Almost exactly twelve months later, Glasner now faces the task to figure out a strategy for payback versus the present Premier League pace-setters in a fixture that was rescheduled to this week because of European commitments.

A Price of Achievement and European Exhaustion

Glasner has, in a way, been a victim of his own achievements. Guiding Palace to their first major trophy with a win in the FA Cup final subsequently brought the rigors of European football for the first time. These pressures are catching up with some weary squad members, many of whom have hardly enjoyed a rest all term.

The manager deployed an entirely different team, featuring four youngsters, in their final Conference League match. Yet, ahead of the Arsenal game, he conceded he will have "no option" but to choose the majority of his first-choice side, which looked extremely lethargic as they uncharacteristically conceded four goals from set-pieces against Leeds. "Must. Yes, have to," he said.

Arsenal's Perspective and Team Dilemmas

On Mikel Arteta and Arsenal, the circumstances are different. The boss must juggle his ambition to win a another major trophy with extreme practicality. The previous season, a hamstring injury to Bukayo Saka sustained in a league game against Palace just days after their Carabao Cup comeback greatly harmed their title aspirations.

Arteta had made several changes for that cup match but was compelled to introduce his "key players" after the break. Saka came off the bench to set up Jesus for a crucial goal in a move that left Glasner "incensed" over a possible offside, with no VAR in operation—a situation that will be the case again on Tuesday.

Arsenal have an eight-game winning streak against Palace, featuring seven victories. Gabriel Jesus, who netted a hat-trick in the previous campaign's League Cup encounter and a brace in a later league win before suffering a serious knee injury, looks set to begin for the first since that setback. Arteta disclosed the striker wrote a "touching" letter to his teammates about what football signifies to him.

"We're accustomed to it," commented Arteta on the busy fixture list. "In my view this week was the sole full week we had to get ready. The rest until February at least is going to be like this. We have a wonderful opportunity to go into the semi-final of a tournament so we will be prepared."

With key players returning from injury and a determination to advance, Arsenal present a daunting challenge for a Crystal Palace side urgently in need of rejuvenation as the holiday schedule intensifies.