Why Crystal Palace are the team to watch in the Premier League right now | OneFootball

Crystal Palace endured a rotten start to the 2024-25 Premier League season.

The Eagles won just one of their opening 10 games, drawing four and losing five. It left Oliver Glasner’s side 17th with just seven points.

But they’ve found some excellent form since, picking up 33 points from their next 19 games, winning nine times, drawing six and losing four. Across this 19-game period, Palace are fifth in the form table, with only Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Arsenal and Liverpool picking up more points.

Crystal Palace set up in a 3-4-2-1 formation under Glasner, prioritising a strong defensive base to spring their counter attacking chances from. So far this season, no Premier League team has more tackles per game, with the Eagles averaging 21.59. In fact, Palace are the highest tackling team in Europe’s top five leagues.

Other strong defensive metrics include their 52.9 ball recoveries per game, where they rank second in the Premier League — behind only Bournemouth’s 56.3. Palace also have only 1.17 goals conceded per game, with only Liverpool and Arsenal conceding fewer. Away from home, Palace have the best defence in the Premier League with 12 goals conceded in 14 games — averaging 0.86 per match. They recently saw a run of five away league games without conceding come to an end against Southampton.

These strong defensive metrics have been the platform for many of Palace’s recent performances, keeping eight clean sheets already in 2025, only losing twice.

Maxence Lacroix has been a revelation this season alongside Marc Guehi playing in a back three. The Frenchman has averaged 2.62 possessions won in the defensive third per 90, 2.35 tackles per 90 and 1.73 interceptions per 90, adding some recovery pace and controlled aggression to their backline.

But there is another defender who needs to be highlighted, this time moving away from the three central defenders and moving on to a key position in Glasner’s system: his wing-backs.

Daniel Munoz has been brilliant this season, already making 34 appearances across all competitions, scoring five goals and providing six assists, while contributing to 13 clean sheets. The 28-year-old has been vital to the way Glasner wants to play at both ends of the pitch.

In the Premier League alone, Munoz ranks second for tackles in the Premier League this season, with 94 in total. Only Idrissa Gueye (112) has made more.

Not only does Munoz heavily impact Palace’s out of possession approach, making tackles and regaining possession for his side, but he also then looks to provide the width. The Colombian makes runs in behind and stretch the pitch for Glasner’s side, creating 33 chances this season so far, five of which have been big chances.

Munoz has developed a nice little dynamic with summer signing, Ismaila Sarr on that right hand side, which has been key since losing Michael Olise to Bayern Munich. Sarr started the season fairly slow, only managing one assist in his first 11 Premier League games.

But much like Palace’s upturn in form, Sarr has since managed to register seven goals and three assists in his last 18 Premier League appearances. Sarr provides that extra threat on the counter attack, making persistent runs in behind and being efficient with the shots he takes. The Senegalese star has the highest shooting accuracy for the Eagles this season with 55.81%, among players to have taken more than one shot.

Summer signings such as Lacroix and Sarr, along with a strong core group established last season, including Dean Henderson, Guehi, Tyrick Mitchell, Munoz, Adam Wharton, Eberechi Eze and Jean-Philippe Mateta, has allowed Glasner to manage the loss of Olise. It might have even improVED the overall functionality of the side, now set to travel to Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final.

Could Glasner deliver Crystal Palace’s first major trophy in their history?