OLIVER Glasner insists Crystal Palace will play a strong side as they aim to reach the fourth round of the League Cup when they face Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road this evening.
Glasner will be boosted by the extra few days some of his players have had to recover from their long trips and games during the international break.
Glasner made four changes to his starting XI for the 4-0 win against Norwich City in the last round, and it is set to be a small rotation again in West London.
“I think it’s our duty to take the Carabao Cup very seriously,” Glasner said.
“We could see it was just Daniel Muñoz who was starting [against Leicester on Saturday], who played 90 minutes during the week [with Colombia]. All other [international players] were on the bench, because both the Colombians came back on Thursday at four in the afternoon. Chris Richards and Matt Turner came back on Thursday in the morning.
“So, with the time difference, they also cut their break. We have them as starting options for the QPR game. That’s important.
“We take it seriously, of course. We want to go in the next round. I mentioned after Norwich: we will play the Carabao Cup to win it. I don’t know if it happens. But it’s an all-or-nothing game, and like those games.”
Palace made eight signings in the summer, and Glasner is prepared for it to take time for them to settle.
He said: “I think this would be too quick [to say], ‘We’ve been together for five days and everything is fine now.’
“If you’re starting a new job, after five days, maybe you know your colleague a little bit better, but you don’t know him really well. This is the same. We know each other better. I think also the fitness level is increasing with every game.
“We can beat QPR now, but if we don’t perform on our top level, we also can lose there. This is a Championship team playing at home, so we have to be ready. It’s now to recover and find the top fit players who are ready for the third round of the Carabao Cup.”
Both sides drew at the weekend with late goals. Jean-Philippe Mateta scored a 92nd-minute penalty to rescue a 2-2 draw against Leicester City at Selhurst Park.
And Marti Cifuentes’ side left it even later at Sheffield Wednesday in Saturday’s game, Alfie Lloyd scoring in the 96th minute after Barry Bannan had scored the opener just three minutes earlier.
QPR are twelfth in the Championship.
“They’re a good Championship team playing at home,” Glasner said. “The stadium is small, but very traditional. I’m looking forward to the game.”
