Crystal Palace are hoping to lift their first FA Cup
The quiet confidence seeping out of Crystal Palace’s training ground ahead of the FA Cup final against Manchester City was summed up by manager Oliver Glasner on Friday.
“We’re focused on what we want to do tomorrow at Wembley. We analysed Man City, but 90% we were talking about us,” Glasner, who will become the first Austrian to lead a team in an FA Cup final, told reporters.
“This is what we can influence. We can influence our performance. We can influence what we want to do in and out of possession. And the focus was on our game. We have a lot of confidence and looking forward to the final.”
Palace may be 12th in the Premier League but have matched their record points tally with two games still to play.In the FA Cup they have clicked impressively, winning 3-0 at Fulham in the quarter-finals and then beating Aston Villa by the same margin at Wembley in the semis.
Now they have one last obstacle to get over and claim the south London club’s first major trophy in its 120-year history.City, who are appearing in their third successive FA Cup final, have endured a humbling season and are still not guaranteed a top-five finish in the Premier League.
Palace drew 2-2 with City at Selhurst Park in the league and led 2-0 in the return fixture only to lose 5-2. They also lost 4-2 last April, a couple of months after Glasner took charge.
Scoring goals against Pep Guardiola’s team has not been a problem, but Glasner knows they will need to adjust defensively to give themselves the best possible chance at Wembley.
“In every single game (against City) we scored two goals, but we just had one draw, because we conceded four, two and five, so we have to make a few adjustments in our defending,” he said.
“Because when you concede five, it’s tough to win, but when you score two, you should be able to win.”
So we have confidence that we will create our chances, we will create our situations to score goals, but we have to do better in defence, and I don’t mean the back three or the back five.
So as a team, maybe we have to adjust a few things, and this is what we want to do tomorrow.”Glasner gave an encouraging update on his squad’s fitness with midfielder Adam Wharton ready to play after missing the Premier League victory over Tottenham Hotspur.”
Positive team news: everybody is fit, Adam Wharton trained the whole week and is available and all others as well,” Glasner said. “Some tough decisions, but good decisions to take.”Palace fans, hoping it will be third time lucky in Cup finals after defeats in 1990 and 2016, produced a wall of sound and colour in the semi-final against Villa and are bound to give their side passionate support again on Saturday.
The FA Cup was not Manchester City’s top priority this season but now they are in a third straight final the club will go all out to win the trophy at Wembley this weekend, manager Pep Guardiola said.
City have had a “horrific season” in the words of striker Erling Haaland, with Guardiola’s side falling by the wayside in the Premier League title race while they were also eliminated in the Champions League knockout phase playoffs.
City are fourth in the Premier League and yet to secure Champions League qualification for next season and winning the FA Cup when they face Crystal Palace on Saturday may not be enough to salvage their campaign.
“That is the problem right, the FA Cup now is not the first choice. Of course, we want it. Once we are here of course we want the trophy. It is massively important,” Guardiola told reporters.
“It was a disappointment last season (losing in the final to Manchester United). But I’m pretty sure we’ll perform well and we are going to compete against them.
“It’s the final of the FA Cup, it’s an honour and a privilege. Third time in a row being there and we have to perform well. We travel to London to win the title.”
