Crystal Palace: Oliver Glasner sends players warning ahead of Eberechi Eze reunion | OneFootball

England international is set for an emotional afternoon on Sunday

Sunday afternoon’s clash marks Eze’s first game against Palace since leaving the club he led to FA Cup glory last season for the Gunners in the summer.

Eze scored the winning goal as the Eagles beat Manchester City at Wembley in May to seal the club’s first major trophy and his place in Palace folklore.

It will be an emotional day for Palace and Eze, who left an indelible mark on each other during a five year association, but Glasner has said sentimentalities will be left until after the full-time whistle.

The Austrian praised Palace’s attack in the wake of Eze’s departure, and highlighted a key stat that shows that they are on the right track.

In Eze’s absence, Palace have been left to bemoan their wastefulness in front of goal, which was on full display as they were beaten 1-0 by AEK Larnaca in the Conference League on Thursday.

Glasner, though, while praising Eze’s ability to conjure up a goal from nothing, said his side had not lost any creativity since the 27-year-old’s club record departure to north London.

“In Eberechi, we lost a player who could decide games on his own with one situation,” Glasner said.

“Sometimes, especially after such an emotional game or such a disappointing defeat, it's good to look at the facts. I always look at the stats and we have the highest xG in the Premier League.

“Crystal Palace, after selling Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze and bringing in Yeremy Pino and Ismaïla Sarr, have the highest xG in the whole Premier League in front of City, Arsenal, Liverpool and all these teams.

“This is a credit to the team, not to the individuals. The whole team. It just shows how much effort the team put in every single game.

“Yes, of course, everybody who likes Crystal Palace would like to have Michael and Ebs still in the squad. But on the other side, it shows that we can also create enough chances to score goals.

Indeed, Glasner is right. Palace lead the Premier League by some way for expected goals (xG) this season, but it is their inability to finish the chances they create for themselves that continues to let them down.

No team has underperformed their xG by more than Palace, who by said metric, should have scored 7.10 more goals on average than they have this season, according to Understat.

Glasner is not concerned, though, and said that despite a three game winless run in all competitions, Palace are not far away from where they want to be.

“Of course the start [of the season] was excellent, but it was clear it doesn’t be the whole season like this because then we would win every four competitions,” Glasner continued.

“But again, I have no concerns at all because the performances are okay. They are not always top. This was our 14th game this season, we will have 17 or 18 until the end of the season and we can’t expect always performing on the top.

“But then, also some times [we] need to be clinical. Scoring a goal, taking a set play, and win. We are not that far at the moment, but we will try and get there.”