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One might forgive Oliver Glasner for wishing to spend a quiet few days with his family in Austria ahead of Christmas, rather than preparing for Crystal Palace's 29th fixture of the season—a League Cup last-eight clash against Arsenal. However, the idea that Palace could prioritize other competitions was firmly rejected by their head coach.

"No, I do not believe that," stated Glasner following his team's side's 4-1 defeat to Leeds. "If somebody informs me that we lose deliberately, the next day I'm not the manager anymore."

There exists a clear difference in Glasner's philosophy to cup competitions versus his forerunner, Roy Hodgson. This initially became clear during Palace's run to the Carabao Cup last eight in his debut complete campaign in command. Under Hodgson, the club had previously been knocked out from each of the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup when Glasner took over at Selhurst Park. Conversely, Glasner picked his first-choice side for victories over Norwich, QPR, and Aston Villa, setting up a encounter with Arsenal.

That previous quarter-final match ended in a 3-2 defeat at the Emirates Stadium, following a somewhat debated hat-trick from Gabriel Jesus, despite Palace having led at the interval. Almost exactly twelve months later, Glasner must devise a plan for payback versus the current Premier League pace-setters in a fixture that was moved to this week because of European commitments.

The Price of Success and European Exhaustion

Glasner has, in a way, been a casualty of his own achievements. Guiding Palace to their first major trophy with a win in the FA Cup final subsequently brought the challenges of continental football for the first time. These pressures are catching up with several weary players, many of whom have hardly had a break all season.

The manager deployed an completely changed team, including four teenagers, in their final Conference League fixture. Yet, ahead of the Arsenal clash, he conceded he will have "no option" but to choose the bulk of his first-choice team, which looked extremely lethargic as they unusually let in four goals from set-pieces against Leeds. "Have to. Yes, must," he said.

The Gunners' Viewpoint and Team Dilemmas

On Mikel Arteta and Arsenal, the circumstances are distinct. The manager must juggle his desire to win a second major trophy with considerable pragmatism. Last year, a muscle injury to Bukayo Saka suffered in a league game against Palace just days after their Carabao Cup fightback greatly harmed their title hopes.

Arteta had implemented a number of changes for that League Cup tie but was compelled to introduce his "key players" after the break. Saka was introduced from the bench to assist Jesus for a decisive goal in a passage of play that left Glasner "incensed" over a possible offside, with no VAR in operation—a scenario that will repeat again on Tuesday.

Arsenal have an eight-match unbeaten run against Palace, featuring seven wins. Gabriel Jesus, who scored a hat-trick in last season's League Cup meeting and a brace in a later league win before suffering a serious knee injury, looks set to begin 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 are accustomed to it," said Arteta on the busy schedule. "I think this week was the sole complete week we had to prepare. The rest until February at least is going to be similar. We have a beautiful opportunity to go into the last four of a tournament so we will be ready."

Amid key players coming back from injury and a desire to progress, Arsenal pose a daunting challenge for a Palace side urgently in need of a spark as the festive period intensifies.