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You could forgive Oliver Glasner for preferring to spend a restful few days with his loved ones in Austria ahead of Christmas, rather than gearing up for Crystal Palace's twenty-ninth game of the season—a League Cup quarter-final with Arsenal. However, the suggestion that Palace might focus on other tournaments was firmly rejected by their manager.

"Absolutely not, I don't think so," remarked Glasner after his team's side's 4-1 defeat to Leeds. "If anyone tells me that we lose on purpose, the following day I'm not the manager anymore."

There exists a clear difference in Glasner's approach to domestic cup competitions relative to his forerunner, Roy Hodgson. This first became clear during Palace's journey to the League Cup quarter-finals in his debut complete campaign in charge. Under Hodgson, the club had previously been eliminated from each of the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup when Glasner took over at Selhurst Park. In contrast, Glasner fielded his first-choice lineup for victories over Norwich, QPR, and Aston Villa, setting up a encounter with Arsenal.

That previous last-eight tie concluded in a 3-2 defeat at the Emirates Stadium, following a somewhat controversial hat-trick from Gabriel Jesus, despite Palace having led at the interval. Now, Glasner must devise a strategy for revenge against the present Premier League leaders in a match that was moved to this week owing to European commitments.

A Price of Achievement and European Exhaustion

Glasner has, in a way, been a casualty of his own success. Guiding Palace to their first major trophy with victory in the FA Cup final has brought the demands of European football for the first time. These demands are catching up with several exhausted squad members, many of whom have barely had a break all term.

The coach deployed an entirely changed team, featuring four youngsters, in their final Conference League fixture. However, for the Arsenal clash, he conceded he will have "little choice" but to choose the majority of his first-choice side, which appeared extremely lethargic as they unusually conceded four goals from set-pieces versus Leeds. "Have to. Yes, must," he stated.

Arsenal's Viewpoint and Selection Dilemmas

On Mikel Arteta and Arsenal, the circumstances are distinct. The manager must balance his desire to win a second major trophy with considerable practicality. The previous season, a hamstring injury to Bukayo Saka sustained in a league game versus Palace only days after their Carabao Cup fightback significantly harmed their title hopes.

Arteta had implemented several changes for that cup match but was compelled to introduce his "big-hitters" after the break. Saka was introduced from the bench to set up Jesus for a decisive 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 are on an eight-match winning run versus Palace, including seven victories. Gabriel Jesus, who scored a hat-trick in the previous campaign's League Cup encounter and a brace in a subsequent league win before suffering a serious knee injury, looks set to begin for the first time since that injury. Arteta revealed the striker wrote a "touching" letter to his teammates about what football means to him.

"We're used to it," said Arteta on the busy fixture list. "In my view this week was the only complete week we had to prepare. The rest until February at least is going to be like this. We have a beautiful chance to go into the semi-final of a tournament so we will be prepared."

With important players coming back from injury and a desire to progress, Arsenal pose a daunting test for a Palace side desperately in need of a spark as the holiday schedule ramps up.