Glasner offers a struggling Nketiah to boost his confidence

Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner is confident Eddie Nketiah will score goals ahead of his return to the Emirates Stadium with Crystal Palace tomorrow night.

England striker Nketiah came through Arsenal’s academy and spent seven years at the club before making the switch from north to south London in the summer for a reported fee of £25m.

However, he struggled at Selhurst Park, scoring just once in 13 appearances.

Nketiah made a good impression after coming on as a second-half substitute during Sunday’s 3-1 win at rivals Brighton and Glasner hopes it could kick-start his Palace career.

He said: “He is very ambitious and works hard. He was brought back from injury and during his injury the team started winning games and started playing better and better.

“He had a really positive impact at Brighton along with Daichi Kamada because we really struggled at the start of the second half, we didn’t have any pressure on the ball. As soon as they came in, they tried hard and we put the game under control.

“He got an assist for (Ismail) Sarr, and I had a great chance.

You can see that maybe he doesn’t have the greatest confidence and that’s completely normal when you’re a striker because he wants to score. My experience is that if a player works as hard as he does, he will get his reward.

“It will be a great story if he scores at the Emirates.”

Adam Wharton remains sidelined with a groin injury and Daniel Munoz is suspended, while Eberechi Eze will be assessed ahead of Crystal Palace’s EFL Cup quarter-final at Arsenal 🚨 pic.twitter.com/Xnn6gwbDMm

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Nketiah will play a role tomorrow

Although he did not commit to starting Nketiah in tomorrow’s EFL Cup quarter-final, Glasner said he would feature, adding: “I don’t know who will play and who will start. We have two or three decisions to make. We don’t know if Ebs (Eze) can play with one or two players a little tired – we still have time to decide. I’m sure Eddie will get minutes at his old stadium.”

Palace have overcome a slow start to the season and are unbeaten in five games.

The Eagles are full of confidence, but Glasner accepts that the trip to Arsenal is always a difficult task.

“We still have a lot of games to play but it would be a great achievement for all of us to win at the Emirates,” he said.

“It’s not a place that Crystal Palace win every year, so it would be a great achievement.

“It will be a tough and intense 90 minutes, but we have confidence, we feel ready, we are in good shape and we are in a good mood in the dressing room.

“We have everything we need before the game, but the most important thing is to show it tomorrow on the field.”

Palace will certainly be without Adam Wharton while Daniel Munoz is suspended.