Crystal Palace

Alex Pewter
Fan writer

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Will Hughes' next appearance will be his 100th for Crystal Palace in all competitions. His arrival at the end of the 2021 summer transfer window was overshadowed by those of Marc Guehi, Joachim Andersen and Michael Olise – but that has often been his role in the team.

Largely unappreciated by then-manager Patrick Vieira, his role grew under Roy Hodgson, but has flourished under Oliver Glasner. It's fair to say that even heading into this season, he would have been considered a capable fourth choice in a group of four talented defensive midfielders—at least on paper.

Yet, with a series of injuries to his competition, Hughes has been the consistent thread in midfield throughout the season. Against Manchester City, it was his turn to receive wider recognition for his footballing ability.

Hughes has long achieved cult status from the Selhurst crowd. The calls of his name come with any completed pass, clattering tackle, or foul (tactical or otherwise). In the Premier League, the stat line reads one goal, five assists, and 22 likely deserved yellow cards, but notably never a red.

Two of those assists came on Saturday. The first was after recovering the ball in midfield; his weighted-through ball broke the lines to free Daniel Munoz en route to the goal. The second was a rare Palace corner goal, the in-swinging ball finding Maxence Lacroix.

More impressive is the fact that 13 years after making his senior debut for Derby County, he has been forced to remodel his game entirely. A creative force as a youngster, he had already made an England U21 debut aged 17 and a half, and a big move seemed inevitable.

Injuries may have scuppered those hopes, but the tenacious midfielder of today still has those flashes to dribble clear of danger, play under pressure, and excel with the mental side of the game.

With a rivalry game against Brighton next weekend, it's likely the first big challenge of the game will come from Hughes, and the fans will love him for it.

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We asked for your thoughts after Saturday's Premier League game between Crystal Palace and Manchester City.

Here are some of your comments:

Crystal Palace fans

Keith: Keith: The only reason Palace are near the bottom of the league are the injuries to key players. Now players are coming back to full fitness they will climb the table. This performance was very good but there's far more to come. I thought we could have won it, but a draw is a fair result.

Christopher: Palace should play like that each week - pressing hard, great counter-attack and passing. Shame the chances Palace had didn't end up in the net. Some missed opportunities that I thought could have come back and punished us… Palace could have won comfortably - Well played Eagles!

Bob: I've said it week in week out that both Will Hughes and Daniel Munoz are our best and consistent players in the team. They fight tirelessly on and off the ball in every game. We talk about losing Michael Olise, Joachim Andersen and possibly Marc Guehi, but losing both Will and Daniel would be a far greater loss.

Neil: Last season, the Eagles had a strong finish, but have lost key players and it has taken time to produce some form this season. Given the league is so competitive, this is exacerbated by injuries; Palace don't have the depth of other London sides and it has taken a worryingly long time to find form. But a draw against City is a good result.

Man City fans

Brian: City are short of defensive pace and man-marking awareness. Palace again proved that City fear the direct ball and too often fail to pick up their man in the box. The lack of confidence in defence is leading to frustration in attack. It is Christmas and City are handing out gifts.

Mark: We're miles off it this season, injuries or not. Even when we had a near fit squad and winning matches we weren't playing great, and now the injuries are piling up we've gone into freefall. Not sure Pep has any answers as to how we get out of it as well and it might be a top six fight the way it's going.

Rich: City keep leaking early goals. Pep's rematch preparation must be at fault. That said the sending off of Rico Lewis when he was fouled was bad refereeing.

Pat: Not for the first time this season, the starting line-up baffled me. Other than Kevin de Bruyne and Ruben Dias, our two best players mid-week were Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku, so to me were dead certs to start this game.Jack brings control, creativity and virtually never gives the ball away. Jeremy terrorises defenders on the left. The issue was a lack of control in midfield and Jack (along with KDB and Ilkay Gundogan) would have brought this today.

Chris Wise
BBC Final Score at Selhurst Park

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Will Hughes nabbing two assists against Manchester City at the weekend might have caught your eye.

But even if you remove those two moments of creativity, the Crystal Palace man was immense in a midfield area stacked with stars.

Hughes played with that typical tenaciousness and hunger that you associate with his game. He has certainly not been a regular starter in this Palace team in recent years, but he has never let them down, and his performances sometimes go under the radar.

Give Hughes his flowers - he fully deserves the attention.

Crystal Palace's bid to sign 21-year-old Lyon winger Rayan Cherki has been hit by European giants Paris St-Germain and Borussia Dortmund joining the race. (Sun), external

Want more transfer news? Read Monday's full gossip column

Highlights and analysis from Saturday's four Premier League fixtures.

If you missed Match of the Day, you can catch up now on BBC iPlayer.

Listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Crystal Palace 2-2 Man City

• Man Utd 2-3 Nottingham Forest

Emlyn Begley
BBC Sport journalist

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This is now four games unbeaten for Palace – although three of them have been draws.

There were plenty of positive signs from this game that they can climb up the table.

Will Hughes had one of his highly influential games with two fantastic assists for Palace defenders.

And he could have had a goal or two himself only for Ruben Dias to block his efforts.

Boss Oliver Glasner warned afterwards that they will never return to the team they were last season - but the 2024-25 side are definitely showing some positive signs now.

Image source, Getty Images

Oliver Glasner spoke to BBC Spory after Crystal Palace drew with Manchester City: We are pleased with the point and many parts of the performance. It feels like if we'd performed at our best level we could have won the game.

"We had a few other good opportunties.

"An unbeaten week with draws against Newcastle and Manchester City, everything is fine. We want to improve and get better in some situations and we could win those games.

"After having the lead twice, especially after 2-1 we got too passive. It's not that easy against City, it's not a crticism of the players but when you're in your own third it's a matter of time. A gap of one yard they find it with one or two touches.

"An amazing finish from Danny. They were missing several headers, defenders, it's an advantage. It's not easy to find where you're better than City. We have many.

"We never will see the team of last season because 10 players left us. The players are in a very good situation and shape. We have more and more options. The results give us confidence."

Were you at the game or following from elsewhere?

Have your say on Crystal Palace’s performance

What did you make of Man City’s display?

Come back to this page on Monday to find a selection of your replies

Four matches make up Saturday's Premier League action after the postponement of the Merseyside derby between Everton and Liverpool because of adverse weather conditions, and we will bring you every moment.

• Aston Villa v Southampton

• Brentford v Newcastle

• Crystal Palace v Manchester City - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

• Manchester United v Nottingham Forest - 17:30 - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

All kick-off times 15:00 GMT unless stated

Follow all the action and reaction here

Chris Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League games this season, against a variety of guests.

For week 15 he takes on Dougie Payne, bassist with rock band Travis.

Sutton's prediction: 1-2

Crystal Palace's win at Ipswich on Tuesday was huge for them, and it was comfortable enough in the end.

Manchester City finally returned to winning ways against Nottingham Forest - and it was a result they fully deserved - but are they really back?

What happens at Selhurst Park should give us an idea, and this is not an easy game for them. Forest had chances at Etihad Stadium when the score was 1-0 and I am still not convinced by City's defending.

They were much better going forward with Kevin de Bruyne and Jeremy Doku in the team against Forest, though.

Doku gave them the energy and ideas out wide that they have been missing and, while he is not the finished article, he is always a handful with his dynamism and the way he drives at teams.

On his day, he can be devastating and it might be a moment of magic from him that makes the difference here, and breaks down a stubborn Palace side.

Payne's prediction: 0-3

With De Bruyne back, City look like themselves again. I can see Erling Haaland scoring buckets of goals again soon, because he just looks so annoyed.

Read the full predictions and have your say here

Katie Stafford
BBC Sport journalist

Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Manchester City (kick-off 15:00 GMT).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Adam Wharton has returned to training but Saturday's game comes too soon for the midfielder. Glasner "really hopes" he will be back to face Brighton and then the back-to-back games against Arsenal in the Premier League and Carabao Cup.

• Centre-back Chadi Riad has also returned to training and "is doing really well" but he will need to play with the under-21s to build up his minutes.

• Glasner said his team "are going in the right direction "because "the performances look quite stable at the moment and on a better level than before".

• On why he thinks there has been progress: "There are more reasons than just confidence. We are physically in much better shape than we have been at the beginning of the season. The structure and how we are playing is getting more into their mind and into their body than it was at the beginning."

• He said his side need to "work to be more efficient" in front of goal. He added: "Then you can miss more, but you also score more goals. It's also sometimes to be more confident with the ball. We give the ball away too easily in several moments, and then we have to work very hard to get it back."

• On facing Manchester City: "We always enter a game with the belief in us that we can win the game, and this is the same tomorrow. We know the defending champions are coming. We believe that we have a chance to win the game."

• He said City's attacking players "will be a lot to defend" and "there will be moments when they suffer and have to defend in a deep block" but he also does not want his team to just press them for 90 minutes.

Listen to live commentary of Crystal Palace v Manchester City from 15:00 on BBC Radio 5 Live

Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

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Having won five of their seven Premier League home games under Oliver Glasner last season (D1 L1), Crystal Palace have won just one of their seven at Selhurst Park so far this season (D3 L3).

Alex Howell
BBC Sport football news reporter

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Crystal Palace are targeting a left wing-back and an attacker as they prepare for the January transfer window.

The Eagles picked up their first away win of the season against Ipswich Town on Tuesday and have moved three points clear of the relegation zone.

Palace have had a slow start to the season, with results not going their way and injuries causing selection issues.

However, they plan to target those positions to boost their squad.

Palace retain an interest in Lyon midfielder Rayan Cherki, a player they monitored in the summer.

A source with knowledge of any potential deal is also aware of interest in him from some of Europe's elite sides.

Meanwhile, Palace also have no intention of selling midfielder Adam Wharton in January.

The 20-year-old has been struggling with a groin injury since the start of the season and had surgery, but he has been followed by a number of top clubs since his Premier League breakthrough last season.

Gary Lineker presents highlights and analysis from eight midweek Premier League fixtures.

If you missed Match of the Day, you can catch up now on BBC iPlayer.

Listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Ipswich Town 0-1 Crystal Palace

• Leicester City 3-1 West Ham United

• Newcastle United 3-3 Liverpool

• Arsenal 2-0 Manchester United

• Aston Villa 3-1 Brentford

Crystal Palace are set to sign 17-year-old Australian striker Rylan Brownlie on a free transfer. (Football Insider), external

Want more transfer news? Read Thursday's full gossip column

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We asked for your thoughts after Tuesday's Premier League game between Ipswich and Crystal Palace.

Here are some of your comments:

Ipswich fans

Kieran: We struggle to break down teams who don’t take our invitation to press our back two. Both Everton and Crystal Palace have come to Portman Road and been happy to let us keep it at the back and then we don’t really know what to do next. Also lacking just that little bit of Premier League quality and physicality unfortunately.

James: Rather like the weekend's defeat at Nottingham Forest, this was a game of few chances that was decided by a sloppy goal from a defensive point of view. Both teams were nervy on the ball and seemed afraid to commit too many players to attack. We need to pick ourselves up again quickly for another tough home clash against Bournemouth on Sunday.

Adam: Worst performance of the season. So frustrating, passing back to keeper, no plan B. Plucky performances not translating into points and we are struggling to take points off those around us. Ominous signs.

Palace fans

Simon: A win was more important than the performance. We looked ordinary against a hard-working Ipswich team. We still aren't as fluid as we need to be but while it has been a disappointing first half of the season so far, there are positive signs and we can try to aim for 20 points by the halfway stage.

Tony: Palace were the better team over 90+ minutes and deserved the three points. They had a lucky escape when Ipswich hit the post but overall the points rightly went to south London.

Al: I felt Palace were in control through most of the game. The gameplan worked and nullified the opposition. Maxence Lacroix and Will Hughes had standout games. It could easily have been three goals with Eberechi Eze missing in the first half and Jean-Philippe Mateta missing in the second half when both were one on one with the keeper. Cheick Doucoure got a good 45 minutes and Jefferson Lerma fitted in well. The wing-backs were strong too.

Image source, Getty Images

Oliver Glasner spoke to the media after Crystal Palace's victory at Ipswich: "I feel very happy. It was not the best performance but the result was more important.

"Most of the time we controlled the game and we scored an amazing goal - a fantastic finish from JP [Mateta].

"We had more chances to decide the game. We couldn't but I think the win was well deserved. We didn't give them any chances from open play and with a clean sheet you can always take the win.

"It's a big win. Now it's not time to sit back and relax but to keep going. In four days we face Manchester City. We stay humble. There are still many things to improve but we are on the right path."