Oliver Glasner has aimed a dig at Tottenham with his message to Eberechi Eze after Arsenal’s Premier League title victory this week.
Eze has become a Premier League winner in his first season at Arsenal following his £67.5 million move from Crystal Palace last summer.
Spurs had been the frontrunners to sign Eze but the England international was holding out for a return to his boyhood club having initially been released by Arsenal at the age of 13.
Palace host Arsenal at Selhurst Park in the final day of the Premier League season this Sunday and ahead of the game, Glasner paid tribute to the huge achievement from Mikel Arteta’s side.
Love football?
Our seven-day guide to the World Cup is live. 48 teams, 104 games, 1104 players – we’ve got everything you need to know. Sign up now.
‘First of all I want to congratulate Arsenal, Mikel Arteta, his players, staff, for a huge achievement of winning the title after 22 years, it’s a fantastic job they have done,’ Glasner said on Thursday.
‘Also a special congrats to Eberechi, I think he’s taken the right decision to go to Arsenal and not to another club.’
Glasner had been under pressure to play a full-strength side against Arsenal but with Manchester City’s draw against Bournemouth ensuring that the title race would not go down to the final day, the Palace manager admits he is likely to rotate his starting line-up with next Wednesday’s Conference League final against Rayo Vallecano on the horizon.
‘For us it makes it a bit easier that the league is already decided just regarding the questions about our preparations being the same because we have to think what’s best for us, to be in the best possible shape on Wednesday,’ Glasner said.
‘To be honest, I’ve not finally decided what we’re going to do. A few things to consider is also the weather change, it should be 29 degrees on Sunday afternoon, also quite hot in Leipzig so it could go into extra time in Leipzig, so what’s best, can players play 90 and 120 minutes again in three days at the end of the season or is it better to rotate more, is it better to rotate more, is it better for the players to stay in rhythm? We have five subs, we asked for 10 but it was not allowed. Many things to decide but I’m pretty sure we’ll decide the best way.
‘You don’t win the league on the last day, you have to play 38 games on a consistently high level, with City’s draw you could say this decided the league, no, 37 rounds have been played so far, every single game decided the title and for Arsenal’s title it’s just one club who is responsible for this and that is Arsenal, because they’ve done an incredible job and they deserve it. In the end you get what you deserve, that’s why Arsenal deserve to lift the Premier League trophy.
‘Honestly, I think it was pretty clear before the season started that this would happen because last year we played on the final matchday the league winner, which was Liverpool, and then this year it was Arsenal, so it was clear it was Arsenal… or us!’
Glasner added: ‘I change my opinion three times a day right now [with team selection], from full rotation, to no rotation, to half rotation. Every starting line-up has positive sides and negative sides.
‘I personally have so many negative experiences with big rotations, one we all experienced this season was KuPS [in the Conference League] then Leeds two days later, I started two eleven new players in two days and I think it was one of our worst performances at Leeds with, on paper, 11 fresh players.
‘I had this two or three times before with my other clubs. It’s why I don’t think we will rotate 11 players but it makes sense for a few to see how they are playing 45 minutes each, making two or three subs at half-time, staying in rhythm.’
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.