Crystal Palace’s pre-season tour of Singapore and Australia is due to get underway this week as Patrick Vieira takes a squad of his players overseas for three friendly matches.
The Eagles will first face Liverpool this coming Friday in Singapore before heading down to Australia to play Manchester United - under the leadership of new boss Erik Ten Hag - in Melbourne and then Leeds United in Perth.
The club’s pre-season fixture schedule kicked off earlier this month with a behind-closed-doors friendly against Accrington Stanley, where a solitary Jean-Philippe Mateta goal earned Palace a 1-1 draw in Beckenham. A much more frenetic game against Millwall followed last Saturday, with Vieira watching as his side ran out 5-4 winners.
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Eberechi Eze opened the scoring inside three minutes, only for Benik Afobe to level with a quick response. Jordan Ayew put Palace back ahead on 18 minutes, but Afobe then netted his second of the afternoon before the break, with both sides making a whole host of changes for the second period.
There, academy defender Jake O'Brien rose highest to head home from a Luka Milivojevic cross before Christian Benteke extended the lead further with a simple finish at the back post. Charlie Cresswell and Zian Flemming then drew Millwall level with ten minutes to go but 19-year-old Jesurun Rak-Sakyi - widely tipped to be soon joining League One side MK Dons on loan - netted the winner as Palace ran out 5-4 winners in the heat.
Palace are now due to fly out to Singapore, where Vieira will get further chances to assess his young squad ahead of the start of the new season, which begins with a Premier League curtain-raiser against Arsenal at Selhurst Park on Friday, August 5.
The club have announced which players will be making the trip to Asia, featuring several high-profile omissions. A group of 26 players were named on the list, with Wilfried Zaha, Marc Guehi, Michael Olise, Christian Benteke, Jeffrey Schlupp and Will Hughes among those not making the trip. In total, only eight senior outfield players will be heading overseas.
The news has thrown into question the vaccination status of several of Palace's players. Singapore are operating a strict policy for those coming into the country, with all entrants having to prove they are full vaccinated from Covid-19. This is at odds with Australia, who recently relaxed its entry requirements for new arrivals. Palace's announcement included the following statement: "Some of these players are not currently fit and therefore will not travel on tour, whilst some did not meet the entry requirements for Singapore or Australia when travel arrangements were made."
The Eagles have already announced a friendly match to take place against Ipswich Town on July 16 and a game against Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road on July 23 for those players not travelling overseas on the tour, with the match now likely to feature more first-team players than initially anticipated. Those not heading to Singapore and Australia will be working together at the club's training ground in south London under assistant manager Osian Roberts. There has also been another friendly added this Saturday (July 16) against Ipswich Town, with a fixture against Montpellier at Selhurst Park on July 30 finishing pre-season, at which point those on the overseas tour will have returned to the UK.
football.london has reached out to Crystal Palace for comment on this developing story.
Full list of Crystal Palace tour players
Remi Matthews, Vicente Guaita, Jack Butland, Joachim Andersen, Nathaniel Clyne, Tyrick Mitchell, Joel Ward, Jake O'Brien, Cardo Siddik, Dan Quick, Kaden Rodney, Tayo Adaramola, Jadan Raymond, Malachi Boateng, Luka Milivojevic, David Ozoh, Killian Phillips, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, Scott Banks, Jean-Philippe Mateta, Odsonne Edouard, Rob Street, Malcolm Ebiowei, Jordan Ayew, Victor Akinwale, Ademola Ola-Adebomi
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