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One might forgive Oliver Glasner for preferring to spend a restful few days with his family in Austria ahead of Christmas, rather than preparing for Crystal Palace's twenty-ninth fixture of the campaign—a Carabao Cup quarter-final with Arsenal. Yet, the suggestion that Palace could focus on other competitions was swiftly dismissed by their manager.

"No, I do not believe that," remarked Glasner after 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 coach any more."

There is a stark contrast in Glasner's philosophy to cup tournaments relative to his predecessor, Roy Hodgson. This initially was evident during Palace's run to the Carabao Cup quarter-finals in his debut full season in command. Under Hodgson, the team had already been knocked out from each of the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup by the time Glasner took over at Selhurst Park. In contrast, Glasner selected his best team for wins over Norwich, QPR, and Aston Villa, paving the way for a meeting with Arsenal.

That prior quarter-final tie ended in a 3-2 loss at the Emirates Stadium, due to a rather controversial hat-trick from Gabriel Jesus, even though Palace having led at the interval. Now, Glasner must figure out a plan for payback versus the current Premier League pace-setters in a fixture that was rescheduled to this week because of European commitments.

The Price of Achievement and Continental Exhaustion

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

The coach fielded an completely changed lineup, including four teenagers, in their last Conference League match. However, for the Arsenal game, he conceded he will have "little choice" but to choose the majority of his first-choice side, which looked extremely lethargic as they uncharacteristically let in four goals from set-pieces versus Leeds. "Have to. Yes, must," he affirmed.

Arsenal's Viewpoint and Team Dilemmas

On Mikel Arteta and Arsenal, the situation are different. The manager must juggle his desire to win a second major trophy with extreme pragmatism. The previous season, a hamstring injury to Bukayo Saka suffered in a league game against Palace just days after their Carabao Cup comeback greatly damaged their title hopes.

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

Arsenal have an eight-match winning streak against Palace, including seven victories. Gabriel Jesus, who netted a hat-trick in last season's League Cup meeting and two in a subsequent league win before suffering a long-term knee injury, is expected to begin for the first time since that injury. Arteta disclosed the striker wrote a "beautiful" letter to his teammates about what football signifies to him.

"We are used to it," commented Arteta on the congested schedule. "I think this week was the only complete week we had to get ready. The rest until February at least is will be similar. We have a beautiful chance to go into the semi-final of a tournament so we will be ready."

Amid important players coming back from injury and a desire to progress, Arsenal pose a daunting test for a Palace side desperately in need of rejuvenation as the holiday period intensifies.