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You could excuse Oliver Glasner for preferring to spend a quiet period with his family in Austria before Christmas, rather than preparing for Crystal Palace's twenty-ninth game of the campaign—a League Cup last-eight clash against Arsenal. Yet, the idea that Palace could focus on other tournaments was swiftly dismissed by their head coach.

"Absolutely not, I don't think so," declared Glasner after his team's side's 4-1 hammering to Leeds. "If somebody tells me that we are defeated deliberately, the next day I'm not the manager anymore."

There exists a clear difference in Glasner's strategy to domestic cup tournaments relative to his predecessor, Roy Hodgson. This initially was evident during Palace's journey to the League Cup quarter-finals in his first full season in command. Under Hodgson, the team had previously been knocked out from both the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup by the time Glasner assumed control at Selhurst Park. Conversely, Glasner fielded his first-choice lineup for wins over Norwich, QPR, and Aston Villa, setting up a encounter with Arsenal.

That previous last-eight match ended in a 3-2 loss at the Emirates Stadium, due to a slightly debated hat-trick from Gabriel Jesus, even though Palace having led at half-time. Almost exactly twelve months later, Glasner must devise a strategy for revenge versus the current Premier League leaders in a match that was rescheduled to this week because of European obligations.

The Price of Achievement and Continental Exhaustion

Glasner has, in a way, been a victim of his own success. Guiding Palace to their maiden major trophy with victory in the FA Cup final has ushered in the demands of European football for the first time. These pressures are taking a toll on some fatigued players, many of whom have barely had a rest all season.

The manager deployed an entirely changed side, including four teenagers, in their final Conference League fixture. However, ahead of the Arsenal clash, he admitted he will have "no option" but to choose the bulk of his first-choice team, which looked extremely jaded as they uncharacteristically let in four goals from set-pieces versus Leeds. "Must. Yes, must," he stated.

The Gunners' Perspective and Team Dilemmas

On Mikel Arteta and Arsenal, the situation are different. The boss must balance his desire to win a another major trophy with considerable practicality. The previous season, a muscle injury to Bukayo Saka suffered in a league game versus Palace just days after their Carabao Cup comeback significantly harmed their title hopes.

Arteta had made several changes for that League Cup match but was forced to bring on his "key players" after the break. Saka was introduced from the bench to set up Jesus for a crucial goal in a passage of play that left Glasner "incensed" over a possible offside, with no VAR available—a situation that will be the case again on Tuesday.

Arsenal have an eight-match winning streak versus Palace, including seven victories. Gabriel Jesus, who scored a hat-trick in last season's League Cup meeting and two in a later league win before sustaining a serious knee injury, looks set to start for the first time since that injury. Arteta revealed the striker wrote a "touching" letter to his teammates about what football signifies to him.

"We are accustomed to it," commented Arteta on the busy schedule. "I think this week was the only full week we had to prepare. The period until February at least is will be like this. We have a beautiful chance to go into the semi-final of a tournament so we will be ready."

With key players coming back from injury and a determination to advance, Arsenal pose a daunting challenge for a Palace side desperately in need of rejuvenation as the holiday schedule ramps up.