Crystal Palace star who created just one chance against Fredrikstad faces axe vs Nottingham Forest
Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner faces a difficult decision despite the Eagles’ dominant 1-0 victory over Fredrikstad.
Jean-Philippe Mateta scored Crystal Palace’s first ever goal in European football, as the Eagles head over to Norway for the second leg with a slender advantage.
The Eagles had to do without Eberechi Eze as he closes in on a move to Arsenal, after the Gunners struck a deal with Palace for the 27-year-old.
Crystal Palace qualified for Europe by winning the FA Cup, but were dropped from the Europa League to the Europa Conference League due to a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on multi-club ownership rules.
Eberechi Eze’s replacement fails to shine
Crystal Palace should have won the first leg by a more comfortable margin at Selhurst Park, with the Eagles seeing 76% possession and having 13 shots on goal.
With Eze unavailable, Oliver Glasner handed 21-year-old Justin Devenny a start.
Devenny, who struck the winning penalty in Crystal Palace’s Community Shield win over Liverpool, failed though to take his opportunity.
| Minutes Played | 69 |
| Touches | 43 |
| Total Shots | 2 |
| Chances Created | 1 |
| Big Chances Missed | 1 |
The Northern Ireland international was also dispossessed twice, won none of his ground duels and only one of his four crosses were accurate.
Odsonne Edouard replaced Devenny for the final twenty minutes of the match, and Glasner now faces a selection dilemma for Palace’s next match against Nottingham Forest in the Premier League.
Oliver Glasner aiming to solve Eberechi Eze void
Glasner faces the problem of replacing Eze, who was an influential player in his side and could have given Palace a greater lead to take to Norway if he had played.
Options were extremely sparse for Glasner as to who the Austrian could call upon for the match.
Devenny has more first team experience than either Romain Esse or Jesuran Rak-Sakyi, who were both on the bench and did not come on.
Glanser has only signed two players in the window, and his lack of options highlight the urgent need to replace Eze in the transfer market.
Despite Devenny’s best efforts it is clear the 21-year-old is not ready to be a first team starter every week and Glasner needs a more experienced operator behind Mateta.