- Crystal Palace face Manchester City and Arsenal
- Oliver Glasner downplays deciding title race
- Eagles have a European final on the horizon
Oliver Glasner has downplayed suggestions that Crystal Palace will decide the Premier League title race between Arsenal and Manchester City. The Eagles face both title contenders in their last three games of the Premier League season.
Palace make the trip to the Etihad tonight (May 13th) to face Pep Guardiola’s City. They do so with their opponents five points behind Mikel Arteta’s Gunners, who lead the table.
Glasner will be taking charge of one of his final games as manager before he departs when his contract expires in June. The Austrian remained as humorous as ever when talking of his team’s influence on crowning new champions.
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‘What’s Best For Us’ – Glasner on Crystal Palace
Glasner responded to a question about Palace’s potential role in determining this season’s champions. He responded (via Sky Sports):
“If City win all three games they have a chance. If Arsenal win both games, they are champions. After your question, I looked at my payslips, I didn’t get any money from Arsenal or City. We think what’s best for us. Our influence in the title race is definitely less than VAR.”
Palace’s main focus for the remainder of the Premier League season is ensuring they finish as strongly as possible. The Eagles sit 15th on 44 points and their safety is secured for a 14th consecutive season.
The South Londoners are preparing for another major final when they face Rayo Vallecano in the UEFA Conference League final on May 27th. Games against City, Brentford (May 17th) and Arsenal (May 24th) come before their trip to Leipzig.
Glasner insists Palace will only be thinking about themselves, and from a financial standpoint, that might favour Arsenal. That’s because of Eberechi Eze’s move to the Emirates last summer.
Eze left the Eagles for the Gunners in a £67.5m deal. A performance-related add-on worth up to £10m is achieved if Arteta’s men win the Premier League title.
Arsenal might already be crowned champions before they visit Selhurst Park on the final day of the season. But Steve Parish’s board would undoubtedly like to add an extra £10m to this summer’s transfer budget.
