Crystal Palace kick off a 12th consecutive season of Premier League football when they take on Brentford on Sunday afternoon (18th August, 14:00 BST).
The Eagles finished last season in fine fettle, unbeaten in their last seven games – winning six of them – and will be looking to make a similar impact in the new campaign.
Ahead of their first match of the season, manager Oliver Glasner’s pre-match press conference saw a range of topics discussed – check out the key quotes below…
“I think we can talk now about many players where there are rumours. It's Joachim Andersen, it's [Ebere] Eze, it’s Jordan Ayew and many others, it's Adam Wharton… and I think then the press conference ends and it’s about many comments on rumours.
“Everybody trained, you asked me about the availability, so all players are available. I'm very close to all the players, so we are talking almost every day and as long as nobody tells me, ‘hey, gaffer, I will leave’, or the club tells me this player will leave, we work with them every day, and we prepare the team so that we are competitive for a Premier League game.
“At the moment it is: every single player will play at Brentford.”
Jesurun Rak-Sakyi has joined Sheffield United on loan for the season.
“Yes, Jes started the pre-season. as I mentioned we are always very close with the players and we talked about his situation and he had a good start to pre-season.
“We got good new players also in his position, with Ismaila Sarr, Daichi Kamada. I also have to mention Odsonne Edouard, Jordan Ayew, Jeffery Schlupp – they are in great shape and during pre-season, you can see they scored many goals.
“Then it looked like it's maybe tough for him [Rak-Sakyi] to get the minutes he deserves and the minutes he needs to develop his game and to develop his personality. We were sitting together and said, ‘maybe the best situation for you, for yourself, is to go on loan’ and he had this opportunity now with Sheffield [United].
“We are wishing him all the best there, that he gets the minutes, he develops, and then he comes back on the next level and he will be ready for Crystal Palace.”
“It's been a long pre-season but as I mentioned, many players came back very late. I'm not talking about what will be at the end of May. It’s still August. There are many months to go and it makes no sense now talking about the final place at the end of the Premier League.
“It's important to focus on today, what we can influence, what we want to do on the pitch, how we play, how we want to show our identity, our personality, our belief in every single game. Then, at the end, we will see what the outcome is, but it makes no sense now talking about Europe, talking about better position.
“It's important what we need for this. I told the players in every single game that we won from six out of the seven, we were running more than the opposite team.
“This is the basic and this is what we have to do again: very high intensity, a lot of confidence, very clear in the structure, always playing as a team, playing forward, making pressure on the ball, making pressure on the opposite team, being confident in possession, improving in set plays. We were one of the weakest teams in set plays.
“We have many things to do and this is what we focus on. And if we all have the right answers, the right set-up, the right mindset, then we will have a good ending to the season.”
Palace are unbeaten in all six previous Premier League meetings with Brentford.
“Very often I have questions about the past. It's like on the stock market, the past never tells you what happens in the future. It would be easier, then everything always goes up!
“I think, since I'm here, we didn't play against Brentford. I know it's a very good team, well organised with Thomas Frank, great manager, clear structure in the game, very variable in building up the game. They switch from a back four to a back three with five players high, playing very quick in behind, have a lot of runs.
“This is what we all know about Brentford. But again, we feel ready there to extend the streak.”
“It's always the same. For me, for us, it doesn't matter if a player is 17 or 37, at the end it is who helps the team win a game. And yes, everybody gets our support from the whole staff here.
“We had many players training with us during pre-season, they were with us on the USA trip and they showed good performances. But we also could see that there's some need to develop to play.
“And it's easy to show it once, a one-hit wonder, but being successful over, let's say in the Premier League, 38 games, perform over 38 games, this is the level that we all demand from our players.
“Therefore, we support our youth players, so that they will be ready. Maybe it's now, maybe it's in half a year, or maybe it's in two years. This is how we work with them.”
“It's the same like with the youth players. We were looking for which players could help us, especially in case one of our offensive players leaves, like Michael Olise now. And Daichi is a player who is creative, who can score goals, like he showed against Nantes.
“He knows how we want to play, so it made it a little bit easier to integrate him in the way of playing. From the first day, he understood it, because we worked together for two years. But for him, it's the same: he has to compete with all the others.
“We have a very competitive squad, and he has to be better than the other players in his position. He has to show that he's maybe closer to helping a team win a game. Then he will start, and if not, the other one [a teammate] will start.”
“He's a great guy. First of all, it's the most important thing, he's a great character. And yes, his last six months, or now eight months, were unbelievable for himself.
“Starting in January at Blackburn, and then playing such a Premier League half-year, and then going up to the [Euros] final with England, and a lot of impressions he had.
“And also to be honest, let's say the first week when he came back, he's 20, you have to make something with your mind and with your personality. It took him the first week to get back, but since then he's back again.
“He's working hard in training. He's one of the guys who is not on his highest fitness level, he can't be, so he had the first 45 minutes in the USA. He had a very short break, he had just two weeks break. Honestly, too short, but he didn't have a game with England. Many discussions we had, many talks we had.
“But now he's up again, and he's a fantastic player. He shows it every day in training, and as I mentioned, a very important, great character.”
