The manager also gave an update on the fitness status of defender Chris Richards, who missed Wednesday's 1-1 draw at Southampton; further thoughts on the midweek game at St. Mary's; and his thoughts on the application of VAR...
Glasner's pre-Brighton press conference: Richards fitness, França & fixtures
Oliver Glasner says Crystal Palace will embrace the challenges posed by a hefty fixture schedule in April, starting with the visit of Brighton & Hove Albion to Selhurst Park on Saturday afternoon (5th April, 15:00 BST).
“We took the decision to not take any risks”
Chris Richards missed Wednesday evening’s trip to Southampton – and Glasner confirmed he would not feature on Saturday against Brighton either.
No, unfortunately he was very close to training with us today. He was outside on the pitch, it was a very short session – but he's not a 100 percent and then we spoke.
If it had been the last game of the season, I think he would have played and would have started. But we can't take the risk when you see our upcoming schedule and the amount of games.
He still feels a little bit of pain, very low level, but we took the decision not to take any risks.
“We will give our best in both games”
It was announced that Palace’s Premier League trip to Arsenal will take place three days before our FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa at Wembley on Saturday, 26th April (17:15 BST).
It’s great! We play two teams who are in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, so it feels like we are in the quarter-final of the Champions League, when we face these teams within three days. We will give our best in both games.
We knew that this would be [the case], because when you see, there was obviously no other date possible for the Arsenal game, because if they qualify for the semi-finals in the Champions League, it's straight after the Cup, and even the same with Aston Villa.
They have, I think, a tougher schedule in the next three weeks, because they play two Champions League games as well. We have one postponed game against Newcastle.
As I mentioned, it was a very busy January and February, then it was a very relaxed March, and now we're looking forward to this busy April and May, because that means we are playing in two competitions. This is what we wanted.
The easiest way would have been losing at Fulham, and then we don't have all these games, but this is what we didn't want, so it's good to have these games in front of us.
“He’s one of the most dominant players”
Kevin de Bruyne announced on Friday morning he would be leaving Manchester City after a decade.
A huge impact. I don't know how many titles he won with Man City… and also the way he was playing and his final passes, I think he's one of the most dominant players in the final third over the last decade here in the Premier League.
He's 33, so the end of his football career comes closer and closer. It's a decision he had to take and he obviously took, so I wish him all the best for his future. He was a very dominant player in the Premier League for the last 10 years.
“Sometimes it’s not so easy to find the right solution”
Semi-automated offside technology is due to be implemented in the Premier League from Palace’s trip to Manchester City on 12th April onwards.
I didn't watch the game, but I think next round we get the semi-automatic offside lines. I don't know if it was offside or what was the VAR intervention [between Chelsea and Tottenham’s long VAR delays last night], what was the reason for it, so I think this will reduce the time.
Sometimes it's not so easy to find the right solution, so at the end we all want to have the right solution. I could see all the discussions about the foul in the Merseyside derby, I don't know how long it took, but at the end it was the wrong decision. What we want when the VAR intervenes is that we get the right decision.
I think if both decisions were right, it's worse to take this time, because nobody wants that we say, ‘OK, we have to stop after four minutes and then take the wrong decision’, because then you waste these four minutes, whereas when it takes maybe five or six and you get the right decision, then it's worse to take these five or six minutes.
Also when it happens every single time, I think then we should start the discussion, but when it's once or twice, OK, unfortunately it was twice in the same game, but very often it's really quickly decided.
I'm a friend of justice and that's why I'm a friend of VAR.
“França’s always had a good mood”
Matheus França scored his first Crystal Palace goal against Southampton on Wednesday night.
To be honest, he always had a good mood, even when he had not the best personal time.
He felt well, was laughing and having a good mood, but everybody here [was]. Again, we're in a great period of the season, we're all feeling well, so almost everybody's available.
There are many positive circumstances, and I think the weather is like it hasn't been over the last decade here in London, so we're enjoying the time at the moment.
“We’re looking forward to a great game versus Brighton”
Brighton did really well. I also think they are not really pleased with this week, with the losing on penalties against Nottingham Forest and now at home, I think the result didn’t mirror the game against Villa because it was a very tight game.
They had their situations and then they conceded their first goal after a set-play in the transition.
But in 2025 they are one of the top teams in the Premier League, scoring many goals, very threatening in their attack, a lot of pace. The manager is doing a great job there.
We'll be really looking forward to a great game.
Match Details
Crystal Palace v Brighton & Hove Albion
- Saturday, 5th April
- 15:00 BST
- Premier League
- Selhurst Park
- Live audio commentary on Palace TV+.
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