Eagles Miss Out On Automatic Qualification After KuPS Draw

Oliver Glasner was a man of his word with a much changed side to take on the Finnish champions who held Palace to a draw in the final league phase game. 

MATCH INFORMATION

PLAYER RATINGS

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 1 Dean HENDERSON, 5 Maxence LACROIX, 10 Yeremy PINO, 20 Adam WHARTON, 26 Chris RICHARDS, 31 Remi MATTHEWS, 73 Ben CASEY

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 7 Jerry VOUTILAINEN, 11 Agon SADIKU, 12 Aatu HAKALA, 21 Joslyn LUYEYE-LUTUMBA, 23 Arttu LOETJOENEN, 24 Bob Nii ARMAH, 35 Paulius GOLUBICKAS, 37 Miilo PITKANEN,

POST GAME QUOTES

OLIVER GLASNER

“Good game, first half very good. Very pleased with the youngsters, we lost a little bit of structure for ten minutes and you get three finishes at the end and score four goals. We wanted to win and go straight into the last round of 16. I know this can happen, we accept it but again especially with the young players we can see what they need, all four under-21 players got cramp tonight.”

MATCH STATISTICS

TEB VERDICT

The fixture congestion forced Oliver Glasner’s hand for this final league phase fixture, and all looked good at the break thanks to a brilliant early goal from Christantus Uche. 

Two quick goals by the visitors in the second half who had rarely threatened, turned the game on its head. Glasner had to dip into what was strong bench and it was Justin Devenny who headed home the equaliser after good work out wide by Tyrick Mitchell. 

Even though Eddie Nketiah and Jean-Philippe Mateta were introduced late on, the Eagles could not find the winner. Regardless, it was encouraging to see a few of the younger players that are in and around the fingers with Joel Drakes-Thomas and Kaden Rodney catching the eye. 

Finishing in tenth means Palace will now go into the play-off draw on 16 January 2026. Because the draw is seeded, the Eagles will be drawn against one of the sides who finished 23rd or 24th. That means they will face Bosnia and Herzegovina’s HSK Zrinjski Mostar or Czech side SK Sigma Olomouc. Palace will play the second leg at home.

You could argue why this game was not one to go for and qualify automatically and not have to play again in the competition until March. although some will say the same about the game at Leeds on Saturday, and the cup quarter final at Arsenal on Tuesday. 

It is a quite mad fixture pile up, and we could face one again in February, but Glasner is right to consider player welfare. Two games in ridiculously quick succession is almost irresponsible by those that run the game, but this is the what happens when you have some success. It feels like we have played enough games for a season already, so we will see where this takes us come Tuesday evening. 

UPCOMING FIXTURES