Crystal Palace

Marissa Thomas
BBC Sport journalist

Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner has been speaking to the media before Thursday's Conference League game against KuPS at Selhurst Park (kick-off 20:00 GMT).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• On Daniel Munoz, who is set to be out for an extended period with a knee injury: "When you play so many games, things can happen. It is not a normal muscle injury because it was an incident with his landing and the body position. He overstretched everything and had the full weight on the front, and that's why this happened. Usually, he never has muscle injuries but, unfortunately, this is part of our game."

• On his contract situation: "No time for distraction. I am never thinking about my future at the moment. I am just getting everything sorted with the players. We have 16 outfield players available. I don't think for one second about my future. It's not important right now. I know there are so many rumours, but I don't know how many clubs I have managed in the past three months and I am still sitting here."

• He added: "As soon as we take a decision, the players will hear first and you [the media] second. When should I talk about my contract? We want to do it in a relaxed atmosphere and at the moment there is no relaxed atmosphere and that's why we pushed it back."

• On whether he would find it difficult to leave after what he has achieved at the club: "You are talking like this [it is the end], but we are in the middle of the season. There are many things we want to achieve. We are in all competitions and we are in a great position in the Premier League. We want now to qualify straight for the last 16 of the Conference League, then we play the quarter-finals in the Carabao Cup. That's what we are focusing on. No speculation about myself or any player leads to us losing our mood or not enjoying being successful together."

• On playing three games in five days: "No player will start for KuPS and Leeds. I and we all feel responsible for the players' welfare. The intensity of the game has increased and we have to think further. It is irresponsible if we do this so we will start with two completely different teams, but the minutes will be shared a little bit if possible."

• On KuPS: "It's a team that wants to play football from the back. They don't score a lot, but also don't concede many. For them, it is an important game to get a win and qualify, and they will be highly motivated. They want to have possession and play in a 4-2-2-2 system which is very fluid."

Alex Pewter
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

Four matches into an eight-game December, and Crystal Palace can claim four victories, three actual ones and one "Graham Potter" xG win over Manchester City, which naturally doesn't count.

Despite the brutality of a 3-0 home defeat, the team can take plenty of positives, even if they didn't take their respective chances. It can be deemed as a bit of turbulence on their journey, rather than the literal plane that didn't take off last Thursday evening in Dublin.

However, the casualties of such a congested schedule are mounting. Daniel Munoz has joined the knee-injury-surgery support group, while the team will hope the hamstring injury suffered by Daichi Kamada sees a quick recovery. Ismaila Sarr did make a sharp return, though mainly to Senegal's benefit, as he joins them for Afcon.

Thursday's game against the newly crowned Finnish champions KuPS, followed by Leeds United 48 hours later, is the most difficult pair of fixtures for Oliver Glasner to manage logistically. Twice publicly, he has stated that he plans to make 11 changes between matches. Whether that is possible, given the squad's constraints, remains to be seen.

The KuPS game itself is a must-win fixture to achieve a top-eight finish in the Conference League, and Glasner has been reluctant to grant academy players minutes as a form of charity. Players have had to earn that opportunity.

The Shelbourne match gave a debut to 17-year-old forward Benji Casey, who leapfrogged players in older age brackets, to travel with the senior squad. Casey, by reputation, even at a young age, fits the Justin Devenny or Rio Cardines prototype – exhibiting professionalism and maturity in his football. That is likely to ingratiate any player, junior or senior, with this manager and staff.

With great fixture congestion certainly comes opportunity. It is up to the players on the fringes to grasp it on Thursday evening.

Find more from Alex Pewter at FYP podcast, external

Manchester City are targeting Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi as the man to lead an overhaul of their defence next season. (Times - subscription required), external

Meanwhile, City, Manchester United and Chelsea are monitoring Daniel Munoz but Crystal Palace have no desire to sell the wing-back. (Caught Offside), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Tuesday's full gossip column

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We asked for your thoughts after Saturday's Premier League game between Crystal Palace and Manchester City.

Here are some of your comments:

Palace fans

Gavin: This was always going to be a challenging match and so it proved. Poor finishing, which is a growing trend, cost Palace and in contrast City took their chances well. Frustrating misses from Jean-Philippe Mateta, Yeremy Pino and Adam Wharton should have been taken, but we seem to lack confidence in that department. Pino's miss will no doubt haunt him for a while! There's always the next game!

Lee: Glasner has to crack the code for winning at Selhurst. Mateta isn't the solution anymore, and neither is Pino. What Palace desperately needs is an out-and-out goal scorer. As good as Wharton is in other areas, he doesn't look like he has goals in him. If it were up to me, I'd cash in - sell Wharton and Mateta for £50m+ in the January window, then reinvest in a proper striker and a midfielder who can actually deliver goals.

Robert: An extremely even game. The only difference were Haaland, Foden, and Haaland...!

Andy: Good effort overall, however wastefull chances allowed City to take the win. It's good to see training and planning lead to chances, but the extra touch and looking to favoured foot lead to missed chances. Eddie Nketiah showed what a snap shot on target can do, but on another day it could fall at the foot of a rushing player. Keep the positivity and let's get a fourth away win at Leeds next week.

City fans

Douglas: We're doing what we've always done - slow start then warming up come November onwards. They will continue to improve. Are there cracks beginning to form at Arsenal?

Harry: That pervasive hole in our midfield persists. Luckily, Palace were incredibly wasteful and our attack was on fire again. You can't be second best and win 3-0 away from home- we were the better team at the end of it and deserved the win. On any other day Palace would have had two or three and credit to Guehi as he is always an absolute powerhouse. Haaland was truly at the races today, Foden's goal certainly makes up for a generally lackluster performance from him. We desperately need a physical midfielder and a fullback or two in January. Commiserations to Palace.

Rich: We are still not playing well. There is loads of room for improvement but we are second in the league. I feel once we properly click, watch out League Cup, FA Cup, Premier League and the Champions League. We have several world class operators and more coming through - Tijjani Reinjders, Nico O'Reily, Matheus Nunes, and the unsung hero Nico Gonzalez. Not many teams go to Palace and win by that margin against a very solid football team.

Marcel: Not at our best and under pressure in the first half but good teams find a way to get a result. We are looking good for the rest of the season and I think Arsenal will fade away as usual. The title is ours for the taking.

Pundits Joe Hart and Theo Walcott and Joe Hart join host Kelly Cates to bring you the action and talking points from Sunday's Premier League fixtures.

Watch on BBC iPlayer here

And listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Sunderland 1-0 Newcastle

• Crystal Palace 0-3 Manchester City

• Brentford 1-1 Leeds

Tottenham are strongly considering selling 24-year-old Wales forward Brennan Johnson following interest from Crystal Palace. (Teamtalk), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Monday's full gossip column

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Shamoon Hafez
Football reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Crystal Palace will be left rueing the openings they had against Manchester City as they struck the woodwork twice but were ultimately well beaten at home.

Yeremy Pino should really have done better with his gilt-edged chance in the first half and scoring that would have given the game a different complexion.

Wharton impressed in the middle of the park for Oliver Glasner's side with no player winning more tackles than his four, but he hit the post and screwed two presentable opportunities off target.

Palace have made their best start of a Premier League season and although this setback keeps them in fifth place, they are now winless in their last 11 home league games against City, a run that stretches back a decade.

Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner, speaking to BBC Match of the Day: "It feels a little bit wrong [the result] but we have to accept it. This is how big games are decided. It was small margins.

"I think City were better in the boxes. We had 16 shots and losing 3-0 is a tough moment. We will take our lessons from this game. We need these games to grow and develop and progress.

"We had three or four big chances and we tried to get our goal and get back into the game. It felt like if we got it something could happen.

"Great cross, great movemtent and great header, that is why it is Haaland and why he scores 40 goals a season. The performance today was better than the FA Cup final but we had the efficiency and City missed it."

On Daichi Kamada's injury: "That is the most disappointing part from this game. He was so good with Adam Wharton today. He stretched when he landed and overstretched and the hamstring got injured. We will assess him tomorrow.

"It hurts because it looks like we will miss him now for a little bit longer."

Whether you were at the game or following from elsewhere, we want to know what you learned.

Have your say on Crystal Palace's performance

What did you make of Man City's display?

Come back on Monday for a selection of your replies

Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner makes five changes following Thursday's Europa Conference League win over Shelbourne.

Dean Henderson returns in goal and Jean Philippe-Mateta starts up front, which Ismaila Sarr, Nathaniel Clyne and Tyrick Mitchell also coming back into the side.

Walter Benitez, Justin Devenny, Borna Sosa, Eddie Nketiah and Christantus Uche drop out.

Crystal Palace XI: Henderson, Clyne, Richards, Lacroix, Guehi, Mitchell, Wharton, Kamada, Sarr, Pino, Mateta.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola makes just one alteration following his side's magnificent Champions League win at Real Madrid on Wednesday.

Tijjani Reijnders starts in midfielder with Jeremy Doku dropping out. Omar Marmoush and Rayan Ait-Nouri are both on the bench before heading off to the Africa Cup of Nations.

Manchester City XI: Donnrumma, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O'Reilly, Reijnders, Gonzalez, Silva, Cherki, Foden, Haaland.

There are five games in the Premier League on Sunday and BBC Sport will be bringing you every moment.

• Crystal Palace v Manchester City - listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

• Nottingham Forest v Tottenham - listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra 2

• Sunderland v Newcastle United - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

• West Ham United v Aston Villa - listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra 3

• Brentford v Leeds United (16:30) - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

Kick-off times 14:00 GMT unless stated

Follow all of the action and reaction here

You can also listen to today's 5 Live Premier League commentaries on most smart speakers. Just say "ask BBC Sounds to play Crystal Palace v Man City" or "ask BBC Sounds to play Sunderland v Newcastle", for instance.

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I predict Crystal Palace to win a lot of games because I really rate them but the Europa Conference League has definitely affected them this season.

Still, Manchester City have only had an extra 24 hours rest since beating Real Madrid on Wednesday, so will it make much difference here?

I'm not sure it will. On top of that, I still don't trust City on the road, especially after witnessing their collapse at Fulham.

Erling Haaland will probably come up with a goal for them and usually I'd say City will find a way to edge this.

Not this time, though. Palace beat City in the FA Cup final and that makes me think Eagles boss Oliver Glasner will have a plan that works this time, too.

His team just need to be able to carry it out for 90 minutes.

Sutton's prediction: 1-1

Read the full predictions and have your say here

Tom McCoy
BBC Sport journalist

Crystal Palace can move to within two points of Manchester City when the sides meet this weekend. BBC Sport examines some of the key themes before Sunday's match.

Palace have never beaten Pep Guardiola's City at Selhurst Park but they did come out on top in last season's FA Cup final, claiming their first major trophy courtesy of a 1-0 win.

The Eagles only had 22% possession in the final but were able to stifle City's attack while remaining a threat on the counter. That's been a strategy regularly employed by boss Oliver Glasner – 17 of Palace's last 20 league wins have come in matches where they have had under 50% possession.

The Londoners, who claimed a comfortable Conference League win at Shelbourne on Thursday, have started the season impressively. They already have 26 points, which is twice as many as at this stage last year and their highest figure after 15 Premier League games.

However, the festive period could prove a testing one for Palace's relatively shallow squad. Ismaila Sarr, their second highest scorer this term, is expected to report for Africa Cup of Nations duty with Senegal next week, providing he overcomes a recent injury.

To make matters worse, wing-back Daniel Munoz, who was outstanding against City at Wembley, will be out for at least four weeks following knee surgery.

City win again but Guardiola demands more

Manchester City made it four wins in a row – and eight victories from their past 10 games – by beating Real Madrid on Wednesday, but Guardiola was quick to bring his side back down to earth.

He insisted City have produced better performances at the Bernabeu without winning, adding "that level is not quite enough" for success in the latter stages of the Champions League.

The Spaniard was also the party pooper after last weekend's 3-0 victory over Sunderland. Summer signing Rayan Cherki starred in that game, assisting two goals, but Guardiola appeared unimpressed by the Frenchman's rabona cross for City's third.

"I want players to do the simple things well," the manager said afterwards, pointedly noting he has never seen Lionel Messi attempt a rabona.

Guardiola is hardly known for simplicity in team selection, with his penchant for rotation – and so-called 'Pep Roulette' – a familiar frustration for fantasy football managers.

Yet this season, the 54-year-old has relied on continuity more than in the past. Wednesday's win in Madrid was the fifth time he has named an unchanged starting line-up in the current campaign. Before 2025-26, he had never done so more than twice in a season with City.

Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner has been speaking to the media before Sunday's Premier League game against Manchester City at Selhurst Park (Kick-off 14:00 GMT).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Glasner confirmed that "all who played [on Thursday] should be fine" for Sunday's game, with the Palace boss hopeful that Jean-Phillippe Mateta and Ismaila Sarr will both be available: "It will give us a few more options and it's important to have these options against City."

• On their delayed return from Ireland: "Yes, we have to deal with the circumstances like this. We couldn't go home after the game – some issues with the plane, but it's better that there are issues when the plane is on the ground than it happens when we are in the air! Yes, we've had to adjust the plan, but again, it's not so difficult. We'll train after arrival with the players who didn't play many minutes yesterday, and of course, we add JP [Mateta] and Isma [Sarr]."

• Glasner said he "expected" the good performance against Shelbourne because he knows "what the players are capable of", adding: "We could manage all the minutes and, of course, celebrate a big win. Overall, it was a good journey here to Ireland. We go back with a lot of confidence and with a lot of joy, looking forward to the City game."

• He acknowledged that the "challenge will be to control their [City's] attack" on Sunday, but recognises "they are also giving opportunities to create chances".

• On a first meeting with Pep Guardiola's side since FA Cup final victory in May: "To be honest, there's always great energy in our stadium at Selhurst. Our fans create this great energy. We had a very long, unbeaten home run until the [Manchester] United game and it's now the chance to start the next run again. Of course, when you play City, we will need a top performance to get the win, but we know we can count on our fans that they will support us and then we will try it, definitely."

• On what he wants to see from his side: "I think we were competitive in the FA Cup final. We were very efficient, and we had a great goalkeeper and a great spirit to defend our goal and this we will need again – we will need great spirit and a team effort to defend the goal. We will need a great goalkeeper and we will need to be efficient because I'm pretty sure that we will create three or four chances to score, and of course it would be good to take one of these opportunities."

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