Crystal Palace are flying high in 2025/26, following last season’s FA Cup and Community Shield triumphs at Wembley.
Many thought the departure of the talismanic Eberechi Eze would clip their wings, but Oliver Glasner’s Eagles are soaring to heights unseen for the South Londoners.
They perch proudly in fourth spot in the Premier League, peering over their shoulders to find Chelsea and Manchester United breathing down their necks.
Here, Sports News Blitz writer Tom Gardiner breaks down the key reasons behind Crystal Palace’s success in 2025/26.
Key personnel
Austrian head coach Oliver Glasner was hired after his departure from German outfit Eintracht Frankfurt in February 2024, succeeding Roy Hodgson after his second stint in the dugout at Selhurst Park.
He has led Palace to FA Cup glory and brought European football to Croydon, the first time either achievement has been made.
By instilling a hard-working, compact defensive structure, he has transformed Palace into a tricky side to oppose.
At the beginning of October, Everton scored a late winner at the new Hill Dickinson Stadium to bring Palace’s 19-game unbeaten streak to an end, the longest in the club’s history.
United are the only Premier League team so far this season to leave Croydon with all three points, with Selhurst Park becoming a formidable hunting ground for travelling teams.
Glasner has stoked the fire at Crystal Palace, with flames of European hope emerging from an otherwise dormant pile of mid-table ashes.
But for Glasner to implement his style and truly galvanise the squad, he needed to maximise the potential of the talent already at his disposal.
One player who has seen a dramatic upturn in fortunes is Jean-Philippe Mateta, whose scoring rate has sky-rocketed under Glasner’s management.
Netting 39 times in 83 matches since the Austrian’s arrival has made the French international one of the league’s most devastating forwards, with only Erling Haaland and Igor Thiago bettering his tally this season.
Inconveniently for Palace chairman Steve Parish, the upswing in Mateta’s form has coincided with a crucial junction in his contract.
Expiring in 2027, Mateta and his camp hold the cards on his future. Talks over a renewal have stalled, and bigger clubs will certainly be keeping tabs on the situation, ready to swoop in when the time is right.
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