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You could excuse Oliver Glasner for wishing to spend a restful period with his family in Austria before Christmas, rather than preparing for Crystal Palace's twenty-ninth match of the campaign—a Carabao Cup quarter-final against Arsenal. However, the notion that Palace could focus on other tournaments was firmly rejected by their boss.

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

There is a stark difference in Glasner's approach to cup tournaments relative to his forerunner, Roy Hodgson. This first became clear during Palace's run to the Carabao Cup quarter-finals in his debut full season in charge. Under Hodgson, the team had already been knocked out from each of the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup when Glasner took over at Selhurst Park. Conversely, Glasner selected his first-choice team for wins over Norwich, QPR, and Aston Villa, paving the way for a showdown with Arsenal.

That prior quarter-final match ended in a 3-2 defeat at the Emirates Stadium, due to a somewhat controversial hat-trick from Gabriel Jesus, even though Palace having been ahead at half-time. Almost exactly twelve months later, Glasner must devise a plan for revenge versus the current Premier League pace-setters in a match that was moved to this week because of European commitments.

The Cost of Success and European Fatigue

Glasner has, in a sense, been a casualty of his own achievements. Guiding Palace to their first major trophy with a win in the FA Cup final has brought the challenges of European football for the very first time. These pressures are catching up with some weary players, many of whom have hardly enjoyed a break all season.

The coach deployed an completely different team, featuring four teenagers, in their final Conference League match. However, for the Arsenal game, he admitted he will have "no option" but to choose the bulk of his preferred side, which looked decidedly lethargic as they uncharacteristically conceded four goals from set-pieces against Leeds. "Must. Yes, must," he said.

The Gunners' Perspective and Selection Dilemmas

For Mikel Arteta and Arsenal, the circumstances are different. The manager must juggle his desire to win a another major trophy with extreme pragmatism. Last year, a hamstring injury to Bukayo Saka sustained in a league game against Palace just days after their Carabao Cup comeback greatly damaged their title hopes.

Arteta had made a number of changes for that League Cup tie but was compelled to bring on his "big-hitters" following 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 potential offside, with no VAR in operation—a situation that will be the case again on Tuesday.

Arsenal have an eight-match winning streak against 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 since then injury. Arteta disclosed the forward wrote a "beautiful" letter to his teammates about what football means to him.

"We're used to it," commented Arteta on the busy fixture list. "I think this week was the sole complete week we had to get ready. The period until February at least is going to be like this. We have a wonderful opportunity to go into the semi-final of a tournament so we will be ready."

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