Final League Phase Game Sees Palace Needing Win For Automatic Qualification

The Eagles will be wishing to avoid a two legged play off round in February 2026 and take the opportunity to escape a repeat of a fervent fixture pile up since the campaign go underway. 

It does feel like Palace have already played a whole season with games coming thick and fast, which has included some casualties along the way. 

The latest being Daichi Kamada who limped off in the second half against Manchester City on Sunday afternoon, and it is expected that he will miss several weeks which will be a big hit. 

The Japanese international follows hot on the heels of Daniel Munoz who has already missed three games, both being key first choice players which will have a knock on effect. 

It is for that reason why there is plenty of suggestion that Oliver Glasner will be making changes for this fixture. You would hope that the aim is to avoid a play off, but perhaps player welfare at this stage in the season is more important. Hopefully this does not mean that we will be taking this final league phase fixture for granted. 

The visitors from Finland need a win in order to stand any chance of progressing into the play offs, and it is that need which may help Palace as KuPS will not be planning to sit back with nothing less than a victory will do. 

While there has been plenty of rumours this week about the future of Glasner, which is not ideal preparation ahead of three very important games before Christmas, the Austrian has made it clear that there is no time for distraction and does not have a moment to even think about it. 

With 16 outfield players available for this Conference League fixture, Glasner made it very clear in his press conference that no player will start the game against KuPS as well as the game at Leeds United on Saturday evening. That alone will make the starting line up for both games very interesting indeed, but you have to consider that the hands are very much tied after seeing injuries to Kamada and Munoz in recent weeks.

These two games will certainly be an opportunity for the fringe and youth players to take their chance if handed to them. 

As for KuPS, their Conference League campaign has seen them win 1, draw 3 and lose 1 so sit in 25th with 6 points. That record shows that they have been hard to beat but they are a point outside of the play off section of the league phase so will need something from the game if they want to progress. Their victory was over Slovan Bratislava while their loss was at the hands of Polish side Jagiellonia. This is their first ever appearance in the league/group stage of European competition. 

KuPS, otherwise known as Kuopion Palloseura, are from Kuopio which is a city that is loacted in the Finnish Lakland. Bizarrely, it has the pleasure of being twinned with Oldham and has a population of approximately 125,000. 

They head into the fixture at Selhurst Park off the back of a home draw with Lausanne, and that defeat to Jagiellonia. They ended their domestic season by securing back to back titles having last won the league in 2019.