Will Eberechi Eze play for Crystal Palace tonight before Arsenal transfer? | OneFootball

Arsenal dramatically hijacked bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur’s move for Eberechi Eze on Wednesday evening as they have convinced the Crystal Palace star to head to the Emirates. Stadium.

The Gunners are set to pay £60m and £7.5m in add-ons – pretty much exactly Eze’s release clause, which expired for this window on Thursday – for the 27-year-old attacker to help mitigate the impact of Kai Havertz’s knee injury.

We revealed all the details of the late-night drama and exactly how Arsenal pulled off the heist, with attention now turning to Eze’s medical, which is booked for Friday. That comes after the first leg of Crystal Palace’s Conference League qualifier against Fredrikstad on Thursday evening.

Questions now abound as to whether Eze will feature against the Norwegian side in a crucial match for the Eagles or will be saved for his transfer to north London in a couple of days’ time.

Here are the details:

Will Eze play against Fredrikstad?

We won’t know for sure whether Eze is playing until the line-ups are revealed around 6.45pm on Thursday, ahead of the 8pm kick-off at Selhurst Park, but all the suggestions are that he will indeed feature.

Out of respect to Palace, the importance of the game and everything he has achieved in becoming a legend at the club, all the reporting around the transfer has been that he will play and have the opportunity to say goodbye to the fans. Arsenal are thought to have accepted this as part of the deal.

Having led the Eagles to a first trophy in their history by winning the FA Cup in May, it would be fitting for his last act to be helping them towards group-stage European football and his professionalism will undoubtedly ensure he produces his best football.

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Eberechi Eze could still feature for Crystal Palace against Fredrikstad (Action Images via Reuters)

What did Oliver Glasner say?

Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner gave his pre-match press conference on Wednesday, before news of the completed deal with Arsenal was out there. At that stage, the Gunners were said to have renewed their interest in Eze, while negotiations were also going on over a potential move to Spurs.

As of that moment, Glasner confirmed that Eze and fellow transfer target, centre-back Marc Guehi, who may be set for a move to Liverpool, would be playing against Fredrikstad and he had no qualms about how they would perform.

"It’s always the right of a club and the duty of a player to give 100 per cent as long as he is under contract," Glasner stated. "Before Chelsea [Palace’s 0-0 draw in their Premier League opener at the weekend], I think many of you were surprised that Marc and Ebs started and played almost the whole game.

“Most of you will be surprised that they will start again tomorrow [against Fredrikstad] because of all the rumours. But again, they are committed. They are committed to the team, they have a contract here, they played a crucial part that we could be so successful, and they will play a crucial part as long as they are here.

"Because they are good, they are committed to the team, and when one of the players leave, which I don’t know at the moment, then they want to leave as players who always gave 100 per cent for Crystal Palace. This is what they did since they signed, and this is what we expect from them until the end of their contract, whenever this is.”

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Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner discussed the Eze situation in his pre-match press conference (John Walton/PA Wire)

Glasner didn’t reveal anything about when he expected one, or both, players to leave the club.

“We are not talking every day to Marc and Ebs and also not kneeling down and saying ‘oh, thank you that you arrived today’," he explained. “No, we expect it, and they worked hard in training, before the training, after the training, professional, and that’s why it’s not a big issue here.

“Of course we know things can always happen. The window is not closed, but we really – and this is a credit to the players, to the group – they are always focused on what we have to do in our games."