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You could forgive Oliver Glasner for wishing to spend a quiet period with his family in Austria ahead of Christmas, instead of gearing up for Crystal Palace's 29th match of the campaign—a League Cup quarter-final against Arsenal. However, the suggestion that Palace might focus on other competitions was quickly dismissed by their boss.

"Absolutely not, I don't think so," declared Glasner following his team's side's four-one loss to Leeds. "If somebody informs me that we lose deliberately, the following day I'm not the manager any more."

There is a marked difference in Glasner's strategy to domestic cup tournaments compared to his forerunner, Roy Hodgson. This initially was evident during Palace's journey to the Carabao Cup last eight in his debut complete campaign in command. Under Hodgson, the club had previously been eliminated from both the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup when Glasner took over at Selhurst Park. In contrast, Glasner fielded his strongest side for victories over Norwich, QPR, and Aston Villa, setting up a meeting with Arsenal.

That previous quarter-final match ended in a three-two defeat at the Emirates Stadium, thanks to a slightly controversial hat-trick from Gabriel Jesus, despite Palace having led at the interval. Almost exactly twelve months later, Glasner must figure out a strategy for payback against the present Premier League pace-setters in a fixture that was rescheduled to this week owing to European obligations.

A Price of Achievement and Continental Exhaustion

Glasner has, in a way, been a victim of his own success. Guiding Palace to their maiden major trophy with victory in the FA Cup final has brought the challenges of European football for the very first time. These pressures are catching up with some exhausted squad members, many of whom have hardly had a break all term.

The coach fielded an entirely different team, featuring four youngsters, in their last Conference League match. Yet, for the Arsenal game, he admitted he will have "no option" but to pick the bulk of his first-choice side, which appeared decidedly jaded as they unusually conceded four goals from set-pieces versus Leeds. "Have to. Yes, have to," he said.

The Gunners' Viewpoint and Team Dilemmas

For Mikel Arteta and Arsenal, the situation are different. The boss must balance his ambition to win a another major trophy with considerable practicality. The previous season, a muscle injury to Bukayo Saka sustained in a league game against Palace only days after their Carabao Cup comeback greatly damaged their title aspirations.

Arteta had implemented several changes for that cup match but was compelled to introduce his "key players" after the break. Saka was introduced from the bench to set up Jesus for a crucial goal in a move that left Glasner "furious" over a possible offside, with no VAR available—a scenario that will be the case again on Tuesday.

Arsenal have an eight-game unbeaten run against Palace, including seven victories. Gabriel Jesus, who scored a hat-trick in the previous campaign's League Cup encounter and two in a later league win before suffering a serious knee injury, is expected to start for the first time since then injury. Arteta revealed the striker wrote a "beautiful" letter to his teammates about what football means to him.

"We're accustomed to it," said Arteta on the busy schedule. "In my view this week was the sole full week we had to get ready. The period until February at least is going to be like this. We have a wonderful opportunity to go into the last four of a tournament so we will be ready."

With key players coming back from injury and a determination to advance, Arsenal pose a daunting test for a Crystal Palace side urgently in need of a spark as the holiday period ramps up.