Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner issues FA Cup Final ban to players

Oliver Glasner has told his Eagles to focus on achieving a Premier League points record before the big Wembley showdown on May 17 when they’ll face Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City

Oliver Glasner has banned all talk of the FA Cup final as he challenged his Crystal Palace side to set a new Premier League points record this season. The Eagles will bid to win their first major trophy when they take on Manchester City at Wembley on May 17.

But the South London club first face two Premier League fixtures – starting with Monday night’s visit of Nottingham Forest. And two wins will see Palace set a new Premier League points record and potentially achieve their highest ever finish.

The Austrian boss gave his players four days off after beating Aston Villa 3-0 in the semi-final before reuniting at their Beckenham training ground.

“We spoke for 30 seconds about the final and City and then I told them: ‘We don’t talk about City or the final anymore until the Monday after the Tottenham game. They can’t be in this tunnel for two weeks just thinking: ‘City, City, City’. The players have this mix of being focussed and being free.

“The best we can do now for the final is to show two great performances against Nottingham Forest and Tottenham because then, we have self confidence and we will be ready.

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“This was the message before the semi-final and it worked pretty well. And that is the message now.

“Honestly, I have already forgotten about the semi-final win. It is gone. It was a great experience, it was a great day, a great feeling. Of course everyone is in a good mood now. We are always talking about the more that you win, the better is our life. Especially with performances like this. But it just makes no sense now to talk about the final now. The focus is on the Nottingham game because we want to win at home.

“Forest are playing for European places and the Champions League. They will be very motivated and we need to have the same motivation.”

Palace currently sit in 11th place on 45 points with an outside chance of qualifying for Europe through the league. The Eagles racked up 49 points in 2018/19 and finished 10th with 48 points in 2014/15

“Our clear goal is that we want to have the highest number of points ever in Palace history. That means we need at least five in four games,” Glasner added. “The best way to achieve it is to get three points against Nottingham Forest and three against Tottenham. Then the first goal is achieved and then we can focus on the final and the FA Cup.”

Glasner revealed he has learned from experience after winning the 2022 Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt while failing to win their final eight Bundesliga and finishing 11th.

It is important to find the right balance. And at Frankfurt we couldn’t find the switch when we won the Europa League for the league games. Emotionally we couldn’t find it so we struggled in the league games a little bit.”

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