The manager confirmed that the Eagles will be without Ebere Eze, Cheick Doucouré and Chadi Riad for the fixture, but could welcome back long-term absentees Adam Wharton and Matheus França to the matchday squad.
Glasner said: “Unfortunately, we had several pieces of bad news at the beginning of the week.
“After further assessments, Cheick needs surgery on his knee, and Chadi has ruptured his ACL [Anterior Cruciate Ligament], so we have lost both for the rest of the season – and I think Chadi even longer, whereas we hope Cheicky will return for pre-season next season – so it’s two long-term injuries.
“We will also miss Eberechi [Eze] on Sunday. He’s struggled in the last weeks and months. He got a knock in the League Cup game [against Arsenal] at the Emirates and since then he’s always had pain, training and not training, playing and then taking him off…
“Last week he almost didn’t train the whole week, and this week it started again. We decided that we want to get him pain-free, so he can perform at his best level, so he won’t go with us to Manchester.
“But we have very positive news: Adam Wharton and [Matheus] França trained with us the whole week without any issues, and we’re thinking both will in the squad because they were very impressive in training, and it will also lift their confidence and mood after being out for several weeks."
Queried on a timescale on Eze’s return, Glasner said: “We play Doncaster on Monday [10th February] and there’s still hope that leaving him out of boots for five, six or seven days, everything can settle down and he will return quite quickly – but I don’t really know.”
On Riad and Doucouré’s long-term injuries, the manager explained: “It’s the worst thing you can have.
“I talked to the whole team and said sometimes players are saying they want to play more minutes – and some deserve more minutes definitely – and they’re not in their best mood, but then you talk about Cheicky being out for 10 or 11 months after his Achilles rupture [last season], then coming back and fighting back and being close to the team and getting more game minutes, and then all of a sudden being out for four, five or six months again. This is really tough.
“It’s relative, and especially because it just happened – there was no impact, and Chadi as well, it was just a normal situation in training that happens 100 times a week – so it’s really frustrating especially for them, but we talked to both and promised to support them as well as we can.
“They can count on us and we know we can count on both of them, that they will do everything they can to return in the best way.”
With regards to Wharton, who underwent surgery on a recurring groin injury in November and has been absent since then, Glasner smiled: “We’ve given him a little bit longer time. It’s great work from our rehab staff, and from him personally, and he looks stronger than before.
“He’s stable and he’s had a very good week. We are all looking forward to him staying now and training with us, because we still have up to 20 games until the end of the season.
"We know that he’s a great player in midfield with his progressive passing, and he can help us getting the ball into the final third and creating chances. That’s why we hope he stays fit now.”
Match Details
- Sunday, 2nd February
- 14:00 GMT
- Premier League
- Old Trafford
- Live audio commentary on Palace TV+