Oliver Glasner confirms major Crystal Palace boost and makes ‘unique’ Liverpool statement

Oliver Glasner was speaking ahead of Crystal Palace’s Premier League game against Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday afternoon

Oliver Glasner has revealed Adam Wharton will be available for Crystal Palace’s game against Liverpool. Wharton missed Monday night’s 0-0 draw against West Ham in the Premier League after he was withdrawn during the UEFA Conference League quarter-final against Fiorentina in Italy.

But in a boost, Glasner has confirmed that Wharton will be back available for the game at Anfield, but Nathaniel Clyne is a doubt. He said: “Adam [Wharton] is good. He is fit and trained yesterday without any issues, so he’ll be available for Liverpool.

“All the others are the same, so we’ve got no new injury concerns, which is good news. Of course, two injuries we still have are Eddie Nketiah and Evann Guessand. So they will miss this game.”

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While on Clyne, Glasner said: “One question mark we have is Nathaniel Clyne. He was ill yesterday, but then was better in the evening. He’s being assessed at the moment. But also it looks like he is available.”

Palace have been Liverpool’s bogey side this season. The Eagles secured a 3-0 victory in their last meeting, October’s last-16 Carabao Cup encounter, adding to September’s Premier League win at Selhurst Park and their Community Shield penalty shootout triumph.

And Glasner admits that the opportunity to win four times against Liverpool in one season is ‘unique’.

“I think when you talk before a season and say, ‘OK, we win once against Liverpool,’ you would say, ‘Yeah, it’s good’,” he said.

“And if you say we’d win twice against Liverpool, you would say, ‘Well, it would be very good’. And you say we win three times against Liverpool, it’s amazing.”

“And now we have the opportunity to win four times against Liverpool in one season. I think that’s something unique. First of all, you don’t play a team like Liverpool four times a year very often.

“And on the other side, then having already three wins, that’s massive for us, and that’s why we’re really highly motivated, because maybe this will never happen again, and it’s a massive chance.”

Palace are currently six points off the European place and when asked about the prospect of qualifying for European football through their league position, rather than just winning the Conference League, Glasner admitted it is better to have multiple options.

He said: “It’s always better having two routes than none. And on the other side, you can’t praise the players enough for their mentality, for their character, for their work ethic, for their attitude, for the spirit we have here and for always sticking together and really working very, very hard.

“I think we really created here altogether a great environment where everybody likes to come. There are already players here, having breakfast three, four hours before training, and it’s not that they have to be here right now. It shows that the players are feeling well here.

“This is one requirement for being successful: that you enjoy what you’re doing, you enjoy the environment you are working in, and then you also have this intrinsic motivation to get better, because if you always need somebody to push and kick you and kick you, I think you will never get the best out of yourself.

“But if you feel well, you like to be here, you like to work, you like to improve, but also enjoying and having fun together, I think this is the foundation of achieving big things.

“I think this was the foundation of why we already have won two titles and are playing a great season, why we can deal with difficult situations through a season. If you’ve already played more than 50 games, there’s still, let’s say, 10 or 15 where you’re struggling. It’s normal.

“But when you have this environment, you have these kind of characters in your team, then you overcome it and you will get the turnaround and be back on track, and I think that’s what we have proven.”