For Glasner's pre-match team news update ahead of Saturday's game, please click here.
Glasner on Luton Town, added demands, targets & plans...
Oliver Glasner expects Luton Town to play to their strengths – and challenged his Crystal Palace players to "find solutions" – when the Hatters visit Selhurst Park on Saturday afternoon. Read on to find out what he had to say about Saturday's opponents, as well as his targets and plans for the weeks and months to come...
On the appointment of the first British South Asian referee in the Premier League…
Sunny Singh Gill will make history when he takes charge at Selhurst Park on Saturday…
It's great because it shows everything is possible for everybody. We want to live in such a world where you don't have to care if you are a man or a woman, if you are from any culture, everything is possible if you work on it. I think it's a great statement for the Premier League.
There is one moment in life where everything is the first time, and for him it's the first time being a referee in the Premier League. I had the same two weeks ago, my first game, and I hope it will be as successful as my first game!
He deserves it because he had great performances as a referee, so he doesn't need any advice from me.
On Luton Town…
They are a very physical team and play man-to-man defence, [win] many duels, and they play very fast into your box. I think [they have made] the most crosses in the league, with approximately 35 percent goals after set-pieces.
There is always belief in them. We could see it against Aston Villa, they were 2-0 down, but they played and then it was 2-2. They just lost it in the last minute.
So, yes, we have a lot of respect, but we play at home, we play at Selhurst, and we are ready for the game. I'm really happy with the training week we had. The players did very well, are very focused, and that's what we need tomorrow.
Be focused, take the duels, win the duels, and then we will get our opportunities.
On Luton’s habit of scoring, and Palace’s of conceding, late on…
Of course I know the statistics, but we have [a saying] in Germany: ‘you never trust the statistics that you didn't make it yourself’.
What I mean is, in the home game we scored three goals in the last 20 minutes against Burnley. Of course everybody talked about the three late goals we conceded at Tottenham, but we also could speak about the three late goals we scored against Burnley.
Since I'm here, it's averaging scoring three and conceding three. I hope that tomorrow we have the same that we had against Burnley.
Of course, we are analysing everything and we are talking with many experts here in our club. We think about what it needs, what we have to work on, but this stays internally. We started and this is a process like everything, but we have great staff members who watch everything, watch the data.
Many players have come back from injury, and it takes time to get the fitness for… I think the average now is 100 minutes, so we speak about 90 minutes, but now we have to speak about 100 minutes.
This takes time, it's a normal process, but we think about what we can work on and we are still starting.
On the additional time added on this season…
I think the net time [with the ball in play] increased from approximately 56 to 59 minutes, so it's not that much, but it's 5 to 6%. The total amount of games in a year maybe increased from 50 to 55, it's another 10%, so total maybe we speak from maybe 15%.
That's something that is new for the players and there are many injuries, it's not just typical for Crystal Palace. Many teams in the Premier League, or all over Europe, are struggling with more injuries.
We talked about it, we all would like to reduce the number of games, but it is how it is. We have to accept it and now we have to deal with it, we have to find solutions, we cannot cry every day ‘too many games’ because it is [the case], and we try to deal with it as best we can.
On what has surprised him about the Premier League...
Nothing!
It's a great atmosphere, great players, everything is well organised, from pre-match to post-match, and also the days before, it's a clear schedule, but at the end, the pitch is the same size as in Europe, and we also play 11 against 11, and the rest is... I was not surprised.
On Luton’s rise to the Premier League…
I think you find these Cinderella stories all over the world, and it just shows that they’ve done a great job there.
You have to deserve it, and they deserve it, and they’re doing really well in the Premier League, and we respect it, but we will fight for the three points, because we also need them.
On fighting for points…
In this moment of the season, everybody needs points for reaching their goals. The top of the league, everywhere, going for European places, not getting relegated… every team needs points, and Luton has had a successful season until now, and they will try to show their strengths.
If you score most of the goals from crosses, I think they won't start to combine through the middle, because they scored many goals, they have the players for this, they have the strikers who want to have these balls.
They’re very physical, very aggressive in scoring, and they also have their way of playing that made them successful for many years, and you won't change it from one week to another, so we expect them to play like they always play, with a lot of physicality, a lot of intensity, always pressing, always duels, but of course, then it's up to us to create space.
The difficulty is to find the space, because you're always under pressure, but if you find it, you have opportunities to score, and this will be the challenge for us, to come out of this high pressure, and find the spaces, and attack the spaces with players where we can create chances and opportunities.
On targets this season…
I never talk about [the table] in both directions. It's the reality, and this we have to accept, because I don't like if somebody says: ‘oh, you are so good, you should be seventh’ – no, if you are 13th, you deserve 13th.
And also in the other direction, if you are seventh, and everybody tells you: ‘oh, wow, why are you in seventh position, with your quality you should be 16th’, then you think: ‘oh, yes, we don't know why we are seventh’ – no, then you deserve seventh!
So, accept the reality. We are analysing our game. In any part of the game we can improve, we want to improve, and then it's up to us as a group, that we show it, and then, when we are in a better position, then we can talk about if we deserve maybe 11th.
On plans for the three-week break in fixtures after Saturday…
It’s unusual, at the end of March, to have three weeks with no games. Of course, we expected the national team break, but I don't know, five to eight players will be with the national teams, and then it's a smaller group.
But yes, this gives us the opportunity, and it's the same, we always accept the situation, and then find the best solution, or what we think is the best solution.
We decided to go to Spain for one week, have a game there against Bodø/Glimt. There we can be together as a group for the whole day, we can have a lot of training sessions, we can have meetings, maybe more than we would have here in London.
So we decided, and then the players go to the national team, and we will also do the best out of the two weeks, where we are a smaller group.