Crystal Palace manager Pierre Sage has warned his players that they will face a “really good team” and an intense atmosphere when they travel to Elland Road to take on Leeds United on Sunday.
Leeds head into the Premier League clash in excellent form, remaining unbeaten after the opening stages of the campaign. Daniel Farke’s side produced an impressive display on Monday night, beating Newcastle United 4-1 in front of a passionate Elland Road crowd.
Palace know exactly how difficult the trip can be. They suffered a heavy 4-1 defeat at Leeds last season under former manager Oliver Glasner after being physically outplayed under the Elland Road floodlights.
Sage’s side have endured a difficult start to their domestic campaign, losing three of their first four Premier League matches. However, Thursday’s 4-0 Europa League victory over Lech Poznan provided a much-needed confidence boost.
The major concern for Palace is the short recovery period, with only two full days separating their European fixture from the trip to Leeds.
Sage believes his team must recover quickly and prepare properly for what he expects to be a demanding encounter.
“It’s always good to win in cups, but the Premier League is our daily job,” Sage said. “We are late in this one because I think we deserved better at Everton and maybe against Ipswich. We have a lot of things to manage better in our way of playing.
“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. Why not do what we didn’t do against Ipswich?
“We have another context in a special atmosphere. With the stadium in Leeds and these fans, it’s really crazy, and we have to confirm what we did well this evening. 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 prepare our game in two days only.”
Palace have also been dealing with several injury problems, but there has been positive news ahead of the Leeds clash.
Star winger Ismaila Sarr made his return from injury during Thursday’s victory, coming on in the 73rd minute, while Eddie Nketiah is also back available after missing recent matches.
Sarr could now be in contention to make his first start of the season, although Sage does not expect him to last the entire game.
When asked whether Sarr could start, the Palace boss replied: “To start: maybe. To play 90 minutes: I don’t think so.”
However, Palace will still be without goalkeeper Dean Henderson and striker Jean-Philippe Mateta, with both players expected to remain sidelined until after the international break.
Sage refused to put an exact return date on either player, saying: “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.”