Crystal Palace are facing the prospect of having to play five matches in 11 days during December after reaching the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.
Oliver Glasner’s side recorded a third victory of the campaign over Liverpool on Wednesday to set up a repeat of last season’s Carabao Cup quarter-final with Arsenal. That match is due to take place on Tuesday 16 or Wednesday 17 December but with Palace scheduled to host the Finnish side KuPS at on 18 December in their final Conference League league phase fixture, the tie at the Emirates Stadium looks certain to be confirmed for the Tuesday by the EFL.
That would leave Palace facing two matches in 54 hours given they are due to face Manchester City at Selhurst Park in the Premier League on 14 December at 2pm. That fixture was moved this month to Sunday to accommodate their Conference League game at Shelbourne on Thursday 11 December.
The FA Cup winners are also due to play at Leeds on 21 December in the Premier League and have commitments in every midweek before then. The situation is further complicated by the fact that Arsenal have two Champions League fixtures in January and the first legs of the Carabao Cup semi-finals are due to begin on 13 January.
Palace and Arsenal are understood to be in discussions with the EFL but there appears to be little wriggle room in a congested schedule.
Tottenham avoided having to play Leyton Orient in the League Cup and Shkendija in a Europa League qualifier in the space of 48 hours in 2020 after the former was called off owing to a Covid outbreak at Orient and Spurs progressed to the next round.
Quick Guide
Palace’s expected five games in 11 days
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11 Dec Shelbourne (a) Conference League
14 Dec Manchester City (h) Premier League
16 Dec Arsenal (a) Carabao Cup
18 Dec KuPS (h) Conference League
21 Dec Leeds (a) Premier League
Glasner has spoken about Palace’s lack of squad depth given that they are competing in four competitions for the first time and has concerns about a hamstring injury sustained by Eddie Nketiah that forced the striker off at half-time against Liverpool.
The Austrian complained about the scheduling of Palace’s FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa in May, when Unai Emery’s side had 24 hours more to recover from their preceding Premier League game, but said he was “shouting against the wind and nobody hears you”.
