- Crystal Palace face Shakhtar Donetsk
- Evann Guessand injury update
- What Oliver Glasner wants from his players
Oliver Glasner has ruled Evann Guessand out of Crystal Palace’s clash with Shakhtar Donetsk on Thursday night. The Ivorian has been sidelined since the 3-0 win over Fiorentina in the first leg of the Eagles’ quarter-final victory.
Guessand had made an impressive start to his loan spell at Selhurst Park after arriving from Aston Villa in January. He was handed a starting role by Glasner, playing off the left and putting in excellent performances.
But the 24-year-old suffered a knee injury against Fiorentina and hasn’t played since. He missed the second leg 2-1 defeat to the Italians which saw his side go through via a 4-2 win on aggregate.
No Guessand vs Shakhtar
Glasner spoke ahead of Thursday’s game and gave an update on Guessand. He told reporters:
“I always have to be very careful what I’m saying before! I said T was reliable and he went off at half-time!”
The Austrian added:
“Evann is progressing. It’s usually with the injury he has, it’s really normal not possible that he could play the second leg, but then we said ‘ok, it’s the end of the season’, and we were very aggressive with the rehab, so he’s on the pitch, working well, there’s no reaction in his knee.“
While Guessand looks set to miss the first leg tomorrow night, he could be available for the second leg at Selhurst Park:
“We’re working towards the second leg that he might be available for the second leg for a few minutes. If we need this, of course it can happen, we hope he’s then available.”
Guessand has appeared 11 times across competitions since joining Palace, posting two goals and one assist. Reports claim that the Eagles are prepared to buy the Ivorian despite him not meeting conditions for a permanent move due to his injury absence.
Glasner Sends Message
Glasner is entering the final month of his historic reign as Palace boss ahead of his departure in June. There’d be no better way for the Austrian to depart than to have a Conference League winners’ medal around his neck.
The Eagles are just two games away from a final in Leipzig, and Glasner has urged them to be confident. He said:
“The message is be yourself, play our style, express yourself, play with confidence, try to score goals, work very hard to avoid chances for the opposition, but the most important thing is play our style. We are where we are because we created our identity, our personality, so it would be complete nonsense if we changed it now.”
He added:
“We say ‘okay, we play our way’, and then it’s sports – you can lose or win – but if you don’t show your identity, you can lose twice, and this is what we never want.”
Palace delivered in a big way last season, winning the FA Cup with a famous 1-0 win over Manchester City in the final. But if the South Londoners were to win the Conference League, it would truly be the stuff of dreams.
