Oliver Glasner spent the week arguing that Crystal Palace’s fixture congestion has made the FA Cup holders victims of their own success. So he was mightily relieved with the ease that his side dispatched AZ as an outstanding performance from Ismaïla Sarr reignited their Conference League campaign.
The Senegal forward scored twice after Maxence Lacroix had given Palace the lead, even if Jean-Philppe Mateta endured one of his off-nights in front of goal as he missed an early penalty and several other gilt-edged chances. But with a testing trip to face Strasbourg – who are owned by the same company as Chelsea and rated like Palace as one of the favourites to win this competition – in their next match, only victory here would have sufficed and they showed a growing maturity given their inexperience at this level to get past youthful but talented opponents.
