Preview: Strasbourg vs Crystal Palace - prediction, team news, lineups

Fifth in Ligue 1 meets fifth in the Premier League as Strasbourg welcome Crystal Palace to Stade de la Meinau for matchday four in the Conference League on Thursday night.

Two of the outright favourites to go all the way face off for the first time in their history, with both teams currently occupying a top-nine position in the 36-team League Phase standings.

Match preview

Since losing 1-0 at Premier League leaders Arsenal at the end of October, Crystal Palace have put together a five-game unbeaten run across all competitions and have kept four clean sheets in the process, most recently beating Wolves 2-0 at Molineux last Saturday.

Goals from Daniel Munoz and Yeremy Pino in the space of just six second-half minutes helped the Eagles run out comfortable winners, and they have now amassed 20 points in the Premier League after 12 games - this represents their best start to a league season since 2012-13 in the Championship (21) and best as a top-flight club since 1991-92 (20).

Oliver Glasner is pleased to see his team building another positive run of form having now reached “crunch time” in their season. The 2021-22 Europa League winner with Eintracht Frankfurt is in charge of a Palace side who are the bookmakers’ favourites to win the Conference League this term and become the third English club to win the competition after fellow London sides West Ham United (2023) and Chelsea (2025).

At the halfway stage, the Eagles have won two of their opening three League Phase fixtures, bouncing back from a surprise 1-0 home loss to AEK Larnaca by beating AZ Alkmaar 3-1 at Selhurst Park three weeks ago to climb up to ninth in the table, just three points behind joint-leaders Samsunspor and NK Celje.

Glasner and co are now gearing up for arguably their toughest Conference League match against a Strasbourg outfit who are coached by South London-born Liam Rosenior, who spent the final three years of his playing career at Palace’s rivals Brighton & Hove Albion.

Strasbourg have made an unbeaten start to their first European campaign in 20 years, accumulating seven points from their first three Conference League fixtures (W2 D1) and they currently sit seventh in the table, one point above Palace.

Les Bleu et Blanc celebrated 2-1 away victories over Slovan Bratislava and BK Hacken - most recently beating the latter in Sweden three weeks ago - either side of a 1-1 home draw to Polish outfit Jagiellonia Bialystok on matchday two.

Owned by the same BlueCo consortium that controls Chelsea, Strasbourg have also looked strong in Ligue 1 this term, picking up 22 points from 13 matches, although an inconsistent run of form in recent weeks has seen them slip six points behind the Champions League qualification spots.

Strasbourg have won three, drawn one and lost three of their last seven top-flight matches, suffering a 1-0 away defeat to Lens last weekend in a contest that saw both teams reduced to 10 men. Rosenior’s side impressive 15-game scoring run in all competitions also came to an end.

Les Bleu et Blanc will welcome a return to Stade de la Meinau where they have lost just one of their eight competitive home fixtures this season (W6 D1 L1). A tricky test against Crystal Palace is up next, though, and they will attempt to win their first game against English opposition since beating Liverpool 3-0 at home in the first leg of a UEFA Cup second-round tie in 1997.

Strasbourg Conference League form:

Strasbourg form (all competitions):

Crystal Palace Conference League form:

Crystal Palace form (all competitions):

Team News

Strasbourg attacker Abdoul Ouattara has sustained a hamstring injury and will be joined in the treatment room by Saidou Sow (knee), Maxi Oyedele (muscle), Karl-Johan Johnsson (wrist fracture) and Abakar Sylla (unspecified).

Ben Chilwell, who was on loan at Crystal Palace for the second half of last season, could be deployed in a back three alongside Mamadou Sarr and either Lucas Hogsberg or Andrew Omobamidele, while Valentín Barco is available to start in midfield despite being sent off in Ligue 1 last weekend.

English-born winger Martial Godo - a summer signing from Fulham - scored an assisted in Strasbourg’s Europa League win over Hacken and will hope to earn a recall along with Julio Enciso, while newly-capped Argentina international Joaquin Panichelli has scored a team-high 10 goals this season and is expected to lead the line.

As for Crystal Palace, Cheick Doucoure (knee) and Caleb Kporha (back) remain sidelined with long-term injuries, but Chadi Riad (knee) and Rio Cardines (groin) have an outside chance of featuring in the matchday squad and will both be assessed ahead of kickoff.

Marc Guehi and Chris Richards, who have recently recovered from injury, may have their minutes managed in the next couple of games and could therefore drop down to the substitutes’ bench on Thursday. Jaydee Canvot - a summer signing from Toulouse - is in contention to earn a recall at centre-back.

Jefferson Lerma - who could also be deployed in defence - and Will Hughes are contenders to start in midfield at the expense of Adam Wharton and Daichi Kamada, while Pino and Ismaila Sarr are set to continue providing support in attack for central striker Jean-Philippe Mateta, who is yet to score in the Conference League.

Strasbourg possible starting lineup:

Penders; Sarr, Hogsberg, Chilwell; Doue, Mourabet, Barco, Moreira; Enciso, Godo; Panichelli

Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:

Henderson; Canvot, Lacroix, Guehi; Munoz, Hughes, Wharton, Mitchell; Sarr, Pino; Mateta

We say: Strasbourg 1-1 Crystal Palace

Both teams will be keen to lay down a marker and move one step closer to securing automatic last-16 qualification with a victory on Thursday, but we can envisage a closely-contested battle being played out in France, with the spoils being shared on this occasion.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.