Oliver Glasner has refused to rule out rotating his Crystal Palace side against Manchester City and Arsenal, insisting his team selections will not define the Premier League title race. The Eagles have four top-flight matches left before facing Rayo Vallecano in the Conference League final in Leipzig on May 27.
Glasner Prioritises Palace Over Title Race
Glasner wants to minimise injury risks and will juggle his squad accordingly, even if it sparks backlash. He said: "To be honest, if somebody criticises me, sorry, if I can say this, it would be nonsense. It's just the last game but there were 37 games played before. That means if another team on matchday 25 rotated against City or Arsenal they affected the title race as well."
He added: "I'm not responsible for Arsenal, I'm not responsible for Manchester City, I'm responsible for Crystal Palace and I get paid for doing the best things for Crystal Palace and not for City and not for Arsenal. Again, I don't know what we're doing yet. Maybe we'll be playing with the same line-up that we'll play against Vallecano but again, maybe it feels like the league title is decided on the last day but at the end, it's a result of 38 matchdays and everybody gets what they deserve."
Focus on Premier League Safety First
Palace travel to City next Wednesday before hosting Arsenal on the final day at Selhurst Park. Before Glasner reaches his team selection predicament, he wants to ensure Premier League safety. Victory at home to Everton on Sunday would confirm that.
He continued: "First of all we want to win against them because then we are safe. We see all the teams at the bottom are winning, Tottenham have two wins in a row. Nottingham [Forest] was on a very good run so all these teams are now closer and we are not 100 per cent safe. That means one more win and then we can think about the Conference League."
Glasner also noted the unusual schedule: "Again, I don't know right now how we will plan this because it's also the first time for me playing the last league game on Sunday and then Wednesday. When I was at Frankfurt, the last league game was on Saturday and we headed into the last practise needing to show something. We played the same team that we played in the [Europa League] final as the last test."
He concluded: "I don't know if this makes sense if we play Sunday and Wednesday. Fortunately I have a bit of time to think about it and do my research and talk with my staff and then we will plan the last week but now it's really getting the win against Everton to be really safe in the league and then making the second step."
