Crystal Palace are set to return to Premier League action as they travel to Nottingham Forest for their first match in three weeks.
Oliver Glasner began the valuable break in Marbella with his entire first team squad putting them through an intensive training plan and further building relationships with the squad he inherited from Roy Hodgson.
The trip was widely considered a success, with Palace ready for the final ten games of the season as they look to secure their top flight status for yet another year.
The Eagles are currently eight points clear of the drop zone heading into the game against third from bottom Nottingham Forest.
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Team News
This week, Crystal Palace released photographs of Michael Olise returning to training. Glasner confirmed that the winger has impressed in the sessions he has been able to take part in, but Saturday's game will be too soon for the Frenchman.
“It’s good news, but he’s not in the squad. He did many parts of training this week—not all the parts—and he’s on the way back, but the Nottingham game is too early, and the Bournemouth game [on Tuesday] is too early; then we will see in the next few days.
"Of course, Michael showed in the sessions that he’s a brilliant player, but the focus is on all the other players tomorrow because I don’t look too far in the future."
Glasner quickly turned attention away from Olise, focusing on the rest of his squad ahead of a massive six-pointer. The Palace boss confirmed Jeffery Schlupp, who last featured for the Eagles on February 3rd, is back in contention.
"It’s important to focus on the Nottingham game, and Michael won't play, so the focus and concentration is on all the other players. Jeffery Schlupp is back after his injury. The group gets bigger and bigger, which gives us more options, and the players coming back from injuries are very important for us, but the fit players are most important for tomorrow."
Daniel Munoz enjoyed a mixed international break, scoring the winner in Colombia's first fixture against Spain but heading off injured against Romania. Much to the relief of Palace fans, Glasner confirmed that Munoz, who is vital to how the South London club plays, will be in the squad tomorrow.
"Munoz is alright. Just a small issue. Nothing serious. He will be with us tomorrow."
Sam Johnstone, however, did not have the same fortunes as Munoz. An injury in England training means that the goalkeeper will be sidelined for the rest of the campaign.
"He is disappointed; he’s starting the rehab process, and he has all our support to get him back as fast as possible, but with this injury, it takes weeks and months, which is tough, but he’s a great sportsman, and he has all our support.
"We will support him to come back stronger; he’s been a professional for many years; he will deal with it, and he has our support. But his return is too far in the future to talk about it."
Finally on the injury front, Glasner added that Marc Guehi who sustained a knee injury against Brighton should see minutes before the end of the season.
"He’s working really hard with the medical team. I trust that he will have many minutes for us this season."
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Productive Palace
Glasner detailed how Palace spent their period of three weeks without a Premier League game, with friendlies coming against Millwall and Bodo/Glimt. He stressed that securing two clean sheets was a big step in the “right direction” for his side, which has had a notoriously leaky defence this campaign.
“We had a very good week in Marbella, with a good friendly game against Bodo/Glimt where we kept a clean sheet. Then we had a good week with a friendly game against Millwall, which was also a clean sheet for us. We are going in the right direction. I think we did our best, but the most important thing is tomorrow."
But the Europa League-winning manager admitted that he and his side still have a lot of work to do to get to the level he expects from Crystal Palace.
"We are still far away from where we want to be, as the time we’ve spent together is too short. But it’s a process, and that’s underway."
Glasner explained that the players have taken well to his methods and are improving day by day while striking a balance with the work that still needs to occur.
"The best thing is that the players are open-minded, they’re listening, and they’re trying their best in every session.
"There are parts of the training sessions that look brilliant and parts that we see that aren’t so settled, but this is what we expected. The players are willing to change some parts.
"Nothing totally new, but maybe a bit more intensity, maybe some more space behind the backline, maybe a bit of a higher press sometimes—but not always. It’s step by step, and we’re on a good pathway."
Palace have been linked to numerous names over the three-week period without a game, with Ronnie Edwards, Ben Johnson, and various others reportedly on their summer wish list. The Palace manager admitted that he and the board are making summer plans, but no decisions have been taken yet.
"We are talking. We had three weeks without a game; we had time to talk about it, but not in detail. I think squad planning is a whole-year process because you have the window in the winter and the summer, somebody can leave, you can get injuries, and it's maybe not a daily discussion but a weekly one. There have been no decisions taken yet."