adminLeeds United thrashed Crystal Palace 4-1 on their previous visit to Elland Road.
Crystal Palace boss Pierre Sage anticipates facing a ‘really good team’ in a ‘crazy’ atmosphere when his side travel to Leeds United on Sunday.
Leeds host Palace at Elland Road on Sunday hoping to continue their impressive start to the season. The Whites remain unbeaten in the Premier League and overwhelmed Newcastle United to secure a 4-1 victory in front of a passionate home crowd on Monday night.
The sight of Newcastle’s disappointed players would have been familiar to several members of the Palace squad. Under former manager Oliver Glasner last season, they were also physically overpowered as they suffered a 4-1 defeat under the Elland Road floodlights.
Palace have lost three of their opening four Premier League matches, and although a 4-0 Europa League victory over Lech Poznan should provide a confidence lift, it leaves them with only two full days to recover. For Sage, that recovery will be vital before what he expects to be a demanding test.
“It’s always good to win in cups, but the Premier League is our daily job, and we are late in this one because I think we deserved better at Everton and better maybe against Ipswich,” Sage said. “We have a lot of things to manage better in our way of playing.
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“Now we need points, and I know that Leeds are really a good team. I saw them at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea, and I saw the game against Newcastle too, and they are really, really good. We have to recover, to be fit and in shape to play against them – and why not do what we didn’t do against Ipswich?
“We have another context in a special atmosphere, because with the stadium in Leeds and these fans it’s really crazy, and we have to confirm what we did well this evening [Thursday]. We have to do better than we did against Ipswich. We have a lot of challenges, but first of all we need to recover, and we need to prepare our game in two days only.”
Crystal Palace fitness boost for Leeds United trip
Palace’s disappointing beginning to the domestic campaign has been made more difficult by fitness concerns. Sage had been unable to use key winger Ismaila Sarr until the 73rd minute of Thursday’s victory, while Eddie Nketiah had also been unavailable in recent weeks.
Both players are now fit to feature, with Sarr potentially in line for his first start of the campaign. However, fellow first-team regulars Dean Henderson and Jean-Philippe Mateta are both expected to remain sidelined until after the international break.
Asked about Sarr’s availability, Sage said: “To start: maybe. To play 90 minutes: I don’t think so.”
On Henderson and Mateta, he added: “I maybe can give you the best answer in two weeks, but I know you want quick answers. The most important thing is to take care of them and to give them the chance to come back as quick as we can.
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