Crystal Palace’s pre-FA Cup semi-final scheduling is unfair, says Oliver Glasner

Oliver Glasner has complained that the buildup to Crystal Palace’s FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa is unfair, after the Premier League turned down a request from the London club to have both sides play on the same night in midweek.

Villa were in action at Manchester City on Tuesday night while Palace travel to the Emirates Stadium 24 hours later.

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It is understood the league rejected Palace’s request owing to television requirements and because Arsenal’s previous game against Ipswich was on Sunday, meaning they could not play on Tuesday.

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Glasner said he was disappointed with the decision but the Palace manager still intends to play a strong side on Wednesday, with Eddie Nketiah poised for a rare start against his former club.

Asked whether Palace had wanted the game moved, Glasner said: “Yes, we wanted it, but sometimes you are shouting against the wind and nobody hears you. I don’t want to complain about fixtures but I think it’s not the best choice from the Premier League.

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“Villa play tonight and we play tomorrow – fair would be if both teams were playing on the same day, on Tuesday or on Wednesday. At this stage of the season it can influence if you have two or three days to rest. But we have to accept it and I’m pretty sure we will be top fit on Saturday.”

Palace steadied the ship in the goalless draw against Bournemouth on Saturday after conceding 10 goals in their two previous outings.

With Chris Richards suspended for one game after his red card, Glasner will have to make changes against Arsenal but he does not want to disrupt his side’s rhythm with Villa on the horizon. “My approach is clear: nothing changes tomorrow,” he said. “It’s the players’ approach, and I spoke to them. If someone believes they have to save their energy for Saturday then it would be quite easy, but they said ‘no’ and want to show our style, identity and who we are by giving our best. For me you can’t say tomorrow is not important.

“We could put out the under-21s so we can train for the Villa game. But that is not what we want.”

Glasner said he had learned from experience: “When I was a younger manager in Austria I played a midweek cup tie against a non-league team and we had a derby at the weekend. I changed 11 players for the cup game but we were awful but everything went how we planned and we went through to the next round and every player was fit for the derby. But we went on to lose the derby 2-0 and I said I would never do it again.”