Crystal Palace take on the visitors KuPS in the round 6 match of UEFA Conference League – League Phase. The match will be played on Thursday, December 18th at Selhurst Park (London).
Crystal Palace became a strong mid-table side in English football under Hodgson. However, there was a clear ceiling under the veteran coach. An attempt to surpass it was made by putting faith in Vieira, but that experiment ultimately proved disappointing. Under Glasner, the first half of last season was not entirely smooth, yet it ended with a cup triumph, the first major trophy for his new team. In the current season, they added the Super Cup as well, defeating Liverpool. In the Premier League, they approached the winter break in the upper third of the table. Their debut campaign in the Conference League has been mixed so far. After confidently getting past Fredrikstad in qualification, the English side started the main round with a win over Dynamo Kyiv and then also beat AZ at home. However, they lost to AEK Larnaca and Strasbourg. In Ireland, they produced a convincing 3–0 victory over Shelbourne. Overall, Crystal Palace look confident at home, where they regularly control matches and convert pressure into results. Recent wins across competitions suggest that their current form is trending upward.
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KuPS are now focused only on this tournament. The Canaries won the Veikkausliiga in 2019 after a five-year break. In the most recently completed campaign, they managed to stay in first place again, finishing with a solid gap over Inter Turku. This came despite a constant workload in European competitions. They did not last long in the Champions League: after beating Milsami, the Finns defeated Kairat 2–0 but then relaxed and paid for it with a heavy defeat in Kazakhstan. A similar story followed in the Europa League: after beating RFS twice, they could not offer any resistance to Midtjylland. Dropping into the current tournament, the Scandinavians started with draws against Drita and Breidablik, and even managed to beat Slovan Bratislava at home. Later, however, they lost away to Jagiellonia. Against Lausanne, they at least secured a goalless draw. With their domestic season already decided, KuPS can fully concentrate on European matches. Still, recent away results show that they struggle to maintain the same level outside their home ground.
The British side are only just getting acquainted with European competitions. There was simply no previous opportunity for them to face visitors from distant Kuopio. The English side are significantly stronger, so we are backing a home win with a -2 goals handicap.
Prediction for the match: Crystal Palace to win with -2.0 handicap.
