Oliver Glasner is faced with a stark choice on Thursday, when Crystal Palace play Finnish side KuPS at home in their sixth and last league-phase fixture in the UEFA Conference League. The match is the first of three in six days for Palace, with the second kicking off less than 48 hours after the final whistle against KuPS.
Does he pick a starting XI as close to full-strength as possible for that European game, to give his team the best chance of a top-eight spot (Palace are ninth in the 36-club table with one round of matches to go), so advancing directly for the round of 16 in March and avoiding a two-leg qualification play-off in February, or select two entirely different line-ups and prioritise the Premier League trip to Leeds United on Saturday night and the Carabao Cup quarter-final at Arsenal on Tuesday?
It is a difficult decision, and to compound matters, Palace’s razor-thin squad has been eroded further by injuries to Daichi Kamada and Daniel Munoz, as well as Ismaila Sarr’s departure to play for Senegal in the Africa Cup of Nations, which starts this weekend. Youngsters Caleb Kporha and Rio Cardines — who provide backup for Munoz — are currently out of action, too.
Maxence Lacroix and Marc Guehi, two of Palace’s three first-choice centre-backs, have played more minutes this season across all competitions than anyone else in Europe’s big five leagues. Indeed, of the 16 players across those divisions with the most game time, five represent Palace — Lacroix, Guehi, Munoz, goalkeeper Dean Henderson and striker Jean-Philippe Mateta. Of the five, only Henderson and Lacroix have escaped injury over the campaign’s first five months.
Therefore it seems likely Glasner will opt to change his line-up between games. This would mean he has no choice but to feature a host of younger players in the Conference League finale, though it is worth pointing out that those in contention to face KuPS, who are fighting to reach those play-offs after winning only one of their five matches so far, have all trained with the first team in the past and done so again this week.
Now, let’s take a look at some of the players who could step up for Thursday’s game.
Left-sided centre-back Mofe Jemide is highly rated and played in the first of two pre-season friendlies against German Bundesliga club Mainz in Austria in July, alongside most of the senior side. Aged 19, he has been a regular in Palace’s under-21 team since last season and featured for England at the Under-17 European Championship in 2023 before stepping up to their under-20s squad. He has previously received attention from other clubs, but signed a professional contract with Palace that came into effect on his 17th birthday.
Jemide playing for Palace in pre-season (Marco Steinbrenner/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images)
Another centre-back who could be involved is George King. The 18-year-old plays on the front foot and is capable in possession, having also operated in midfield. He has represented Republic of Ireland Under-19s, having previously played age-group football for England.
More experienced is Kaden Rodney, 21, who made his first-team debut (and only senior appearance to date) as a left-back in the Carabao Cup win against then third-division Oxford United in August 2022 when Patrick Vieira was the manager. He is versatile but plays mostly as a midfielder, and his work rate and professionalism are admired. He was an unused substitute in Glasner’s first Palace match against Burnley in February last year.
Justin Devenny played as an inverted right wing-back in the previous Conference League match against Irish side Shelbourne last week and if he were to do so again on Thursday, it would leave a No 10 spot available, which might be taken by 17-year-old Benji Casey, who made his professional debut off the bench in that match in Dublin. “He’s scoring goals, he’s got a great profile, he’s got pace,” Glasner said afterwards of Casey.
Another exciting young prospect is Joel Drakes-Thomas, also a No 10 but who can play wing-back, too. Aged just 16, he was also among the substitutes against Shelbourne. His age means he is less likely to start the KuPS game, but it is not out of the question that he could become the third-youngest player in the club’s history, behind John Bostock and Alex Wynter, if Glasner believes he is ready to be involved in some form. Drakes-Thomas already regularly features for Palace Under-21s, such is his talent.
The 17-year-old Dean Benamar is the next available wing-back, and he too travelled to Austria with the first team for pre-season, but suffered an injury from which he has only recently returned and has featured just a handful of times for the under-21s. Benamar represented England at the Under-17 Euros earlier this year and is a talented prospect but he plays on the left, which is where Borna Sosa, a 27-year-old full Croatia international who has been used almost exclusively in the Conference League and Carabao Cup since signing in the summer, will surely start.
We are responsible for the players’ welfare,” Glasner said after the Shelbourne victory. “Especially as after 8pm (the kick-off time) at Leeds on Saturday we play at 8pm on Tuesday at the Emirates (against Arsenal).
“We had three goals this season; one was winning the Community Shield (against Premier League champions Liverpool) — the players did it. Two was qualifying for the league phase of the Conference League — the players did it. And three was qualifying for the knockout stage of the Conference League early enough — the players did it (this is not mathematically certain yet, but Palace are almost guaranteed a spot in the play-off round). We will go for the win (against KuPS) but the team will look completely different.”
There are drawbacks to this approach, and to Palace having spent so little time training over the past few weeks due to their packed schedule, although it does offer benefits to the fringe squad members who come into the team.
“It’s disorienting for players,” sports psychologist Marc Sagal tells The Athletic. “They are creatures of habit and have become used to, and sometimes dependent on, the lead-in to matches physically and mentally. Even with rotation, you have disruption, because there are different guys coming into different sequencing for the training that does take place.
“Players’ tuning is affected because the rhythm of preparation is modified. The compression is disruptive for players, coaches and staff alike. Some players won’t overthink it and will relish the opportunity, so there can be some positives where there is not much rotation.”
Ordinarily, Glasner would prefer not to rotate too much, let alone pick a different team entirely from one match to another, but not doing so now presents too great a risk of injury.
“You’re effectively depleting most of the energy systems (by playing twice in 48 hours). It’s like putting £100 ($134) of fuel into the car and that gets you 500 miles but then you have another 500 miles to go and you only put £50 in,” says Callum Walsh, a fitness and conditioning expert who worked as head of performance for EFL club Huddersfield Town and Turkish side Alanyaspor.
“Explosive outputs are reduced, and they’re still depleted from the previous game. Even a day after a normal game, in terms of fuelling, they’re not back to the levels they need to be at, because it’s impossible. You start again (already) depleted.
“The cortisol (known as the stress hormone) is still in their system (from the prior match) and the ligaments and muscles are all in a state of fatigue. That might mean someone doesn’t turn quickly enough, or doesn’t judge the play quickly enough. When you’re in a state of fatigue, because of the chemicals released by your brain, your ability to contract and push with the same power is reduced.”
Glasner has made just 15 changes to the starting XI this season across the first 16 Premier League games, the fewest among the 20 clubs by five. And he not only prefers familiarity in selection but is also reluctant to use his bench: in the 2025-26 top flight so far, his substitutes have played just five per cent of available minutes.
But now he will choose to protect his players, just as he is affording them time off wherever possible. Palace have played 26 times across four competitions this season, and are not yet halfway through it in terms of dates.
“If the body is underprepared, you risk underperformance because you’ll be fatigued,” Walsh adds. “Secondary exposure risks injury, particularly soft-tissue injury and potentially to the joints. When you have a run of high-intensity games, you increase your risk of ankle sprain and ligament injury around the knee.
“The recovery process is what makes you stronger and better. If you don’t allow sufficient recovery time, then you are exposed to something breaking down and definitely risk a drop in performance levels.”
Some senior players may have to feature on Thursday and Saturday regardless, even if their minutes in the two games are limited.
Much will depend on how prepared Glasner is to sacrifice a possible win against KuPS in favour of the two domestic competitions.
Palace will hope their youngsters can do enough to secure qualification for the round of 16 but Glasner has at times struck a tone that suggests he is not overly concerned about playing two extra European matches in February if that saves his regulars from longer-lasting risk of injury, fatigue and underperformance.
These are not easy calls to make, not least because he previously promised to never change a starting XI again after doing so in Germany with Wolfsburg, only for them to lose the next game anyway, but in such difficult circumstances, exceptions must be made.