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Glasner promises no easy day for Arsenal with title on the line

Published:Wednesday | April 23, 2025 | 12:12 AM
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Crystal Palace’s head coach Oliver Glasner enters to the pitch prior to the English Premier League football match against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England, on Saturday, April 12.
AP
Crystal Palace’s head coach Oliver Glasner enters to the pitch prior to the English Premier League football match against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England, on Saturday, April 12.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola celebrates his side’s second goal of the game during a Premier League football match against Aston Villa yesterday.
AP
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola celebrates his side’s second goal of the game during a Premier League football match against Aston Villa yesterday.
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LONDON (AP):

CRYSTAL PALACE coach Oliver Glasner said yesterday he will field the “best available team” at Arsenal today in a game that could hand the Premier League title to Liverpool.

Arsenal are 13 points behind Liverpool with five games remaining, and need at least a draw against Palace to keep the title race alive.

Palace are 12th and have little to play for in the Premier League but are heading into an FA Cup semi-final game with Aston Villa on Saturday.

“We have to look at what’s best and which players are in the best shape, but that doesn’t mean we will make 10 changes tomorrow,” Glasner said. “Maybe we will change two or three, but that is not because we value the Saturday game more than tomorrow’s game.”

He added: “The fans deserve to see the best teams and we will play with the best available team tomorrow.”

In the meantime, Manchester City did their bid for a Champions League place a world of good with a 2-1 win over Aston Villa yesterday.

Matheus Nunes scored in stoppage time at the Etihad Stadium and moved the four-time defending league champions up to third in the standings, with the top five securing a place in European club football’s top competition next season.

Nunes fired home from a tight angle in the fourth minute of added time after Jeremy Doku’s low cross.

The game had looked destined to end in a draw after Bernardo Silva’s first-half goal had been cancelled out by a Marcus Rashford penalty.

“I was so happy. I have to admit it,” Guardiola said after a win that could help salvage a troubled season for his once-dominant team.

There is still likely to be a tense battle for the Champions League, with a clutch of teams in contention going into the final weeks of the season and just four points separating third to seventh in the standings.

But City’s fate is in their own hands after a troubled campaign that saw their title defence unravel before Christmas and their hopes of winning the Champions League end in the play-offs.

A top-five finish would go some way to ending the season on a high – and Guardiola’s celebration was evidence of just how important the win could prove to be.

“We have a lot of pressure for the club to go to the Champions League,” said Guardiola, whose City team won the competition for the first time in 2023.

“If we win the next four games, it will have been so important,” he added.