Crystal Palace picked up a respectable point on the opening weekend of their 13th season in their current Premier League stint drawing 0-0 at Stamford Bridge.
The Eagles were perhaps unlucky not to take all three points as Eberechi Eze’s free kick was controversially ruled out after ‘Law 13’ was used in the Premier League for the first time since its introduction six years ago.
Palace were also in action on Thursday night beating Norwegian cup winners Fredrikstad 1-0 at home after their demotion from the Europa League to the Conference League.
Jean-Philippe Mateta celebrates his Conference League goal. (Photo by Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
Most Palace fans will feel that it should have been Sunday’s opponents Nottingham Forest playing in this game.
After the Eagles were unsuccessful in their appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Sunday’s opponents Forest took their place in the Europa League.
Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis had written to UEFA in June, a few weeks after Palace’s historic FA Cup win, to ask for clarity about what competition his side would be playing in.
On Friday manager Nuno Espirito Santo spoke about his relationship with Mr Marinakis deteriorating and less interactions between the pair. However, Santo is still expected to take charge on Sunday despite emergency meetings.
The Tricky Trees enjoyed a good start to the season last Sunday beating Brentford 3-1 at the City Ground with goals from Chris Wood and new signing Dan Ndoye.
How do Palace cope with their lack of trusted attacking options
Oliver Glasner confirmed after Thursday’s game that Eberechi Eze has played his last game for Crystal Palace and since said his goodbyes to the players and staff. The 27-year-old had his medical booked at Arsenal on Friday.
The game against Fredrikstad showed that Palace are now quite light in attacking areas.
The Japanese attacking midfielder Daichi Kamada picked up an injury against Liverpool in the Community Shield and has returned to training but will not play on Sunday as this is too early for his return.
He should be involved for the second leg next week.
Furthermore, Eddie Nketiah remains on the sidelines for the next two months and may need an extra four weeks to get back up to speed due to a lack of a pre-season. Matheus Franca also picked up a knock in the summer and is due back in training soon.
Glasner had to utilise Justin Devenny in the left number ten position on Thursday night, and it may be the case that he persists with Devenny in that role until a replacement is signed.
Justin Devenny of Crystal Palace. (Photo by Crystal Pix/MB Media/Getty Images)
Ismaila Sarr and Jean-Philippe Mateta will likely partner him to make up the rest of the front three.
Palace do have three other options in attacking roles. But these do not appear to be Glasner’s favoured men as Jesurun Rak-Sakyi and Odsonne Edouard both search for a new club.
In addition to this on the last day of last season we saw Glasner harshly substituted Romain Esse on and off and then go on to say, “he knows why he was substituted.” Palace’s manager also followed this up by saying some of his players were not “focused or determined enough.”
The 20-year-old was linked with a loan move back to Millwall shortly after he signed for Palace in January, but he has remained with the Eagles group due to a lack of numbers.
Is it time to switch up the system
Often throughout his managerial career a 3-4-2-1 formation has been favoured by Oliver Glasner, and it is this set up that has worked so well during his Europa League winning campaign at Eintracht Frankfurt in 2021/22 and in his FA Cup winning campaign at Palace in 2024/25.
However, at times when Glasner has chosen to switch his system he has opted for a 3-5-2 formation.
With a lack of forwards to accompany Mateta it could be necessary to do this against Nottingham Forest with Ismaila Sarr partnering him up top.
It could be an option to start a midfield three with Adam Wharton, Will Hughes and Jefferson Lerma.
Jefferson Lerma of Crystal Palace. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
This would mean that Palace could have a midfield option of Justin Devenny off the bench to partner the more favoured attacking option of Edouard.
Richards set to be recalled to the eleven
On Thursday evening it was decided that two members of Palace’s eleven from the opening game would be rested.
These two players being Chris Richards and Tyrick Mitchell.
Expect Richards to be in the starting lineup on Sunday’s for the first game at Selhurst Park in the league of the new season. Mitchell could also be recalled. However, he is currently suffering with a hip problem so Borna Sosa may be favoured.
Mitchell frequently offers Palace defensive solidity. Against Chelsea he won five tackles and had an okay performance going forwards as he tried to pass the ball into the final third.
Competition with Sosa will only make both players better at football with both offering something different to the side. Sosa in comparison to Mitchell always has an eye to put the ball in the mixer demonstrated by his 13 attempted crosses against Fredrikstad.
American Richards has previously had to settle for a spot on the bench during his time at the club.
Chris Richards of Crystal Palace celebrates with the Community Shield trophy. (Photo by Sebastian Frej/Getty Images)
But since Trevoh Chalobah was recalled by Chelsea in January he has been an ever present in the side and played some of his best games.
The 25-year-old is versatile and can fill in at right back allowing Munoz to progress down the flank and his aerial ability poses him as a great threat in the opposition box from set pieces.
The visitors who will make the journey down from the Midlands on Sunday have proven themselves to be a bit of a bogey team for Palace in recent years.
Since the tricky trees promotion over the last three seasons, they have won two games against Palace and drawn four.
One of these two wins was last season at the City Ground as Forest won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Chris Wood.
The Eagles have not beaten Forest since 2011 and at home since 2003.
For a chance of their first win against the Garibaldi in 14 years Palace’s hungry midfield duo of Wharton and Hughes will need to try and play through Forest and create more chances and dispatch it to the men on the flanks.
Last season Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic established themselves as one of the strongest centre back pairings in the division and it will be a tough test if Palace are to break them down.
Murillo of Nottingham Forest celebrates. (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)