Now, ahead of hosting the Blues in SE25, Glasner discussed how he expects Saturday's opponents to set out their shape at Selhurst Park; his hopes for Ebere Eze; how he keeps rehabilitating players motivated; and more – so catch up on the key quotes below…
Hughes, Chelsea tactics & Eze: The key quotes from Glasner's press conference
Crystal Palace kick off 2025 against Chelsea at Selhurst Park on Saturday, as the Eagles look for their first back-to-back home wins this season; find out what manager Oliver Glasner had to say about the game below.
“A Happy New Year to all of you!”
A Happy New Year to all of you!
It was stormy on Wednesday, stormy and raining, but I had a nice New Year's Eve, my first time celebrating the New Year here in London and it was quite nice.
“Hughes deserved the captaincy”
Glasner confirmed that Hughes will be absent for Saturday’s match with a foot injury.
He has developed a fantastic year and, also not just how he plays – he completely understands how we want to play – but also his leadership.
It was no coincidence that he was the captain in the last game. He deserved it because he's speaking in the dressing room, he's speaking on the pitch, and this is what helps the team. I'm quite sure that Will will be with us next season.
“This will be the challenge”
I think Chelsea have a great squad, a fantastic manager, a clear structure of how they play. I know how difficult it is to implement your way of playing, your style of playing so quickly, and they did it fantastically.
It is quite a young squad, they have many young players with high potential, with high quality, high talent, a lot of pace.
I watched the game at Ipswich [a 2-0 defeat for Chelsea]. They had a disallowed goal, very tough offside decision, they had three or four chances to get the equaliser, and then they got punished with one transition, so this game I think if they scored the equaliser ,they had good chances to win the game, and all their games are in a similar pattern.
The way they're playing in a 3-2-5, or 3-1-6 structure, this gives them a lot of possibilities in their attack. Also, with the players they have and the wingers inverted, great dribblers, [Nicolas] Jackson, [Christopher] Nkunku, [Cole] Palmer, João Félix, all fantastic players in the pocket, finding space, with [Enzo] Fernández, [Moisés] Caicedo from midfield, great passers.
But also when you have six players, sometimes seven players in attack, this gives you also chances for transition and this is how they lost the game at Ipswich, with two transitions. They conceded the goals against Fulham with transitions, but on the other side they're always dangerous to score goals, they always create chances in any single game, so this will be the challenge: to control their attacking players, their quality and, on the other side, to use the space, to take the mistakes they make and score goals from it.
“They won’t want to surprise us”
I don't think that they will surprise us. I don't think that it's flexible. They go from a 3-2-5 to a 3-1-6 sometimes, and this is what they did against us in the second-half [in September’s 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge]: they went more to a 4-1-5, then if [Marc] Cucurella plays in the pocket or sometimes he goes wide to create a 2v1 on the wing, this is what they're always doing.
They have the opportunities with their players because Malo Gusto can play in the pocket as well and he can play as a full-back, and support [Pedro] Neto or [Noni] Madueke on the wing so it's nothing.
I think they can't surprise us, I think they don't want to surprise us because they also believe in their strengths, because two match rounds before they were second in the league and they were asked about challenging for the Premier League title.
I think Enzo Maresca always stayed humble and kept this down, but again it's a clear structure, a lot of possession, short passes, also having traps, giving them the pocket and then finding these players like Cole Palmer, like João Felix, and then they are so good and with the first touch to turn and make pressure on the defence and finding the right moment for the pass and creating chances and scoring goals.
I really like to watch them, but I think, especially in the second-half at Chelsea, we did it very well, I think we had a good answer. I'm convinced that we are in a better physical shape now than we were at the beginning of the season, we should be tactically better, but we have to show it tomorrow.
“We hope it gives Ebs confidence”
Ebs [Eze] was sick at the beginning of the week but he's now fine, and we all hope that this [goal against Southampton] gives him confidence in scoring, because I think he's not really happy with two goals in half of the season, us as well.
So we hope that [goal] gives him confidence to score goals and of course we need him scoring goals, we need him for assisting all the others. It was a good goal, the game winner against Southampton.
We didn't talk about the English national team. I think it's important for any player to perform for his team and if you perform well for your team, you will be called up for the national team.
You play for Palace and if you perform well, you get called up for England. Regardless of who is the manager, this we could see.
Everyone picks the players who are in the best shape and therefore you have to perform at your club, and then they will be called up. Of course, we are always happy when there are many players from us called up, and let's see what Thomas Tuchel will do, I don’t know.
“França started training with us this week”
Glasner discussed keeping injured players involved during periods of rehabilitation.
This is what we're always trying to do when we have meetings. The injured players always have to work alone in the gyms on rehab, and they're not really close to the team. This is a moment where we can have them in the team. They can't train on the pitch tactically but then we have to train in the meeting room tactically, by watching videos.
We always want them being in the team meetings, we do individual meetings with them just to use the time they have when they can't train on the pitch, and this is what we're doing with every single player.
[Matheus] França, who was out for eight months, he started training with us this week, so very positive, but also if you're don’t hear for eight months how we want to play tactically, what we demand especially from the players in his position, now he starts with the tactical understanding.
Now it's a transformation on the pitch, and this just makes it easier, but I think this is again part of reha: it's not just getting the knee fit or the groin fit, it's also getting the mind of the players fit, and this is a huge part of rehab.
“Please support us like you always do”
[To the fans] Please support us again like you always do, regardless if we play at Selhurst or in an away game and we will do everything, I can promise we will do everything, to win this game, to start the new year with three points.
This is what we can promise, and I just wish for the same support like always. Thank you.
Match Details
- Palace v Chelsea
- Premier League
- Saturday, 4th January, 15:00 GMT
- Selhurst Park
- Live audio commentary on Palace TV+