Crystal Palace use garlic to combat parasites in Selhurst Park pitch

Palace play their first pre-season game against Schalke on 5 August

Crystal Palace have kicked up a stink around Selhurst Park this summer after using garlic to prepare their playing surface for the new Premier League season.

The Selhurst Park pitch has been having problems with microscopic parasites that weaken the roots within the turf.

Liquid garlic is a pungent but effective way of treating the problem.

"Think of your garlic at home and times that by 100," Palace head groundsman Bruce Elliott told cpfc.co.uk.

"We have a problem with nematodes, which are a microscopic, parasitic worm-like creatures that live within the root zone.

"When it gets in there it can distort the roots system and creates a weak plant that is susceptible to disease and wear and tear."

Palace's first pre-season friendly at Selhurst Park is on 5 August against German side Schalke.

Frank de Boer's side host Huddersfield on the opening day of the Premier League campaign on 12 August.

Hopefully, Palace will have more luck with this unusual method than Darlington did with their own novel approach in 1999.

The Quakers introduced 500lbs of worms to their flooded pitch to help irrigate it, only for them to drown.