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You could excuse Oliver Glasner for preferring to spend a restful period with his family in Austria ahead of Christmas, rather than preparing for Crystal Palace's twenty-ninth game of the season—a Carabao Cup quarter-final against Arsenal. However, the suggestion that Palace could prioritize other tournaments was swiftly rejected by their boss.

"Absolutely not, I don't think so," remarked Glasner after his team's side's four-one hammering to Leeds. "If anyone tells me that we lose deliberately, the following day I'm not the coach any more."

There exists a stark contrast in Glasner's philosophy to domestic cup tournaments compared to his predecessor, Roy Hodgson. This initially became clear during Palace's run to the League Cup quarter-finals in his debut full season in command. Under Hodgson, the club had already been knocked out from each of the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup when Glasner took over at Selhurst Park. In contrast, Glasner selected his first-choice team for wins over Norwich, QPR, and Aston Villa, paving the way for a showdown with Arsenal.

That previous quarter-final tie ended in a 3-2 defeat at the Emirates Stadium, thanks to a rather debated hat-trick from Gabriel Jesus, despite Palace having been ahead at the interval. Almost exactly twelve months later, Glasner now faces the task to devise a plan for revenge versus the current Premier League pace-setters in a fixture that was moved to this week owing to European obligations.

A Cost of Achievement and Continental Fatigue

Glasner has, in a sense, been a victim of his own achievements. Leading Palace to their first major trophy with a win in the FA Cup final subsequently ushered in the challenges of continental football for the first time. These pressures are taking a toll on some fatigued players, many of whom have hardly enjoyed a break all term.

The manager fielded an completely changed team, including four youngsters, in their final Conference League fixture. Yet, ahead of the Arsenal clash, he admitted he will have "little choice" but to select the bulk of his first-choice team, which looked decidedly jaded as they unusually conceded four goals from set-pieces against Leeds. "Must. Yes, must," he stated.

The Gunners' Perspective and Team Dilemmas

For Mikel Arteta and Arsenal, the situation are distinct. The manager must juggle his ambition to win a another major trophy with extreme practicality. The previous season, a hamstring injury to Bukayo Saka sustained in a league game versus Palace just days after their Carabao Cup fightback significantly harmed their title aspirations.

Arteta had implemented several changes for that cup match but was forced to introduce his "big-hitters" after the break. Saka was introduced from the bench to assist Jesus for a crucial goal in a passage of play that left Glasner "furious" over a potential offside, with no VAR available—a scenario that will repeat again on Tuesday.

Arsenal have an eight-game winning streak against Palace, including seven victories. Gabriel Jesus, who scored a hat-trick in last season's League Cup meeting and a brace in a subsequent league win before sustaining a long-term knee injury, looks set to begin for the first since then setback. Arteta disclosed 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. "In my view this week was the only complete week we had to prepare. The rest until February at least is will be like this. We have a beautiful opportunity to go into the semi-final of a competition so we will be ready."

With important players coming back from injury and a determination to advance, Arsenal present a formidable test for a Palace side desperately in need of rejuvenation as the holiday period ramps up.