With an important Premier League match against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday to conclude three games in a week, Oliver Glasner must be tempted to make changes to his Crystal Palace side.
Palace go to Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup’s last 16 tonight (Wednesday), having earned their first league victory of the season, at the ninth attempt, against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Wolves, however, aren’t playing in midweek, after they were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Brighton & Hove Albion in the previous round.
That presents Glasner with a quandary — how strong a side he should name for the Villa tie? Palace’s weekend hosts are second-bottom of the table, having picked up just two points from their nine matches. Beating Tottenham moved Palace out of the relegation zone up to 17th, with six points.
The match at Molineux is important for Palace. Another win would not only take them further away from the bottom three, it would provide a crucial confidence boost which might help kickstart their season.
Yet the same is true of Wednesday’s fixture at Villa Park, where victory would take the south London club through to the quarter-finals.
Therefore, Glasner’s team selection in midweek is a difficult call. He will want his strongest and fittest side to face Wolves, while not wanting any of his important players to be burnt out. Yet he has an opportunity to build more familiarity with his squad two months into the campaign by making no unforced changes.
That is made more difficult by the hamstring injury Jefferson Lerma sustained against Spurs and by fellow midfielder Adam Wharton continuing to manage a groin issue. Wharton managed 88 minutes on Sunday before being replaced by Daichi Kamada and was instrumental in midfield — close to the form he displayed last season in the run-in after joining from Championship side Blackburn Rovers in January.
Ideally, Wharton would also start against Villa, particularly after seemingly finding form, but that presents a risk given his fitness issues — with the Wolves game of more pressing importance overall.
“We are discussing (whether to send Wharton for surgery), and when we take the final decision we will inform you,” Glasner told reporters in his press conference before the Tottenham game. “At the moment, he will be with us for at least the next week. He will be with us for the next three games, and then we will see what happens.”
Leaving Wharton out against Villa would mean bringing in Will Hughes and Kamada from the start, with Cheick Doucoure still not ready to return from a toe injury. Ismaila Sarr was replaced after 67 minutes on Sunday, ending his best performance since joining from Marseille in the summer for €15million (£12.5m/$16.2m at the current exchange rates) and so Glasner’s best option, on the whole, is to pick an otherwise unchanged team.
He doesn’t appear to have settled on a preferred line-up this season, swapping the front three frequently. But Jean-Philippe Mateta showed against Tottenham how well he can finish while Sarr caused them problems with his direct running, something Palace have been missing in the early weeks of the campaign.
Glasner spoke about the importance of a settled back three, having now named the same combination for three successive games, but the same applies to his forwards — especially after a win. There is no reason to believe they will be so drained by three matches in seven days this early in the season that it will negatively impact their performance and there are benefits to retaining as close to the same line-up as possible.
In the previous two Carabao Cup rounds, against Championship sides Norwich City and Queens Park Rangers, Palace put out a strong midweek side seemingly without any issues arising from it. Glasner was desperate for a win to build momentum in the latter tie, and has spoken of the importance of going deep into the two cup competitions. “It’s our duty to take the Carabao Cup very seriously,” he said in his press conference before that game.
He now has a league win under his belt and it would surely make sense to make the most of that and try to build momentum, especially with the manager seemingly still searching for his best side.
On the run-in last season, Glasner settled on one change for the majority of games, only once making more than that. So far in 2024-25, he has consistently swapped players, making three changes four times and two on three occasions. Some of that has been out of his control due to injuries, but it has not been conducive to success. He has spoken of the need for players to find their form. The best way to do that is to give them regular starts.
Aside from having his hand forced by players not being available, Glasner should keep a settled side for the next few games in the hope his players find greater consistency.
(Top photo: MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
