With **Jørgen Strand Larsen** suspended, due to accumulation of yellow cards, **Jean-Philippe Mateta** is likely to start up front on Thursday evening, with Glasner noting: "JP played the full 90 minutes in an in-house game, and scored three goals, so he seems to be ready!
"He was out for six weeks in total where he couldn’t train with us and we had to build him up to being ready. I don’t know if he can play the full 90 minutes tomorrow.
"I expect the game to be a little bit more intense than the in-house game, but he had the full week with us in training and he trained last week with us, and he showed that he is ready to start."
The Manager also said of **Cheick Doucouré,** who has recently featured for the U21s: "Cheicky had a few disrupted weeks. First of all, he had a daughter – that means he was two or three days not in!
"Then, he started training, then he felt a little bit, in his muscle, not really a heavy injury, but after two or three days' training, he was out for two or three days.
"Then, he was in again, we had a scan, he's fine, so I’m hoping he’ll be back by the end of the week. The most important thing is, as he’s missed almost the last two years, he gets back to where he's stable, a training rhythm and then a playing rhythm – so we still have to be very cautious."
Palace’s match against Fiorentina is their first in three weeks, since a dramatic 2-1 win away at AEK Larnaca in the Round of 16 – 21 days marking the Eagles’ sixth-longest mid-season break in the club's history.
“I think we managed the three weeks quite well for everyone,” Glasner explained. “To be honest, for all the players, this was an incentive for qualifying for the quarter-finals – they had eight days off straight after the Larnaca game!
“When I went home my calendar was empty and I was a bit nervous about what to do because I’m not used to it, but then I went skiing in the mountains, it was good, for two days, and I spent some time with the family, my father’s and husband’s duty!
“Then we started with the players who were here – seven players plus a few from our Under-21s. We started two weeks before tomorrow’s game, and we had an in-house game with our U21s to stay in the rhythm.
“All internationals had minutes with their national teams, then all the internationals had a few days off after the game – we could afford this.
"On Saturday, I went to Verona to watch Fiorentina. On Sunday, we were all together and started to prepare.
“We had quite a lot of time to prepare – we feel ready and we're looking ready.”
### **Match Details**
**Crystal Palace v Fiorentina**