Crystal Palace are unbeaten in 17 games. This is how they do it

It is one of the Premier League’s most remarkable records, but also one of the most unheralded.

Crystal Palace are now 17 games unbeaten in all competitions after Saturday’s 2-1 win at West Ham United, a sequence that stretches back to April and includes Wembley wins over Manchester City in last season’s FA Cup final and Liverpool, on penalties, in this year’s Community Shield.

The south London side have only once enjoyed a longer unbeaten run in their history (they went 18 games unbeaten in 1969) and only three sides outside of the traditional ‘Big Six’ have longer unbeaten runs than this since the Premier League’s establishment in 1992.

It is a superb record, even if it does include 10 draws. But while certain players have made headlines — usually in the form of transfer interest from bigger clubs — and their Austrian manager Oliver Glasner has earned widespread plaudits, it has not attracted the sort of attention you might expect.

So what underpins Palace’s success?

A cast-iron defence

While Manchester United have laboured to make a back three work under Ruben Amorim, Glasner’s 3-4-2-1 system has been supremely effective for Palace.

Each of the three centre-backs offers a different quality. Captain Marc Guehi, who was denied a move to Liverpool in a dramatic summer transfer deadline day U-turn, offers leadership and an exemplary ability to read the game. Next to him, Frenchman Maxence Lacroix provides athleticism and pace and timing in recovery tackles. On the right, United States international Chris Richards has grown in assurance, particularly in his ability to win aerial duels.

Richards was especially impressive against West Ham, keeping Crysencio Summerville at bay, shepherding him into less dangerous areas and providing cover for goalkeeper Dean Henderson. He may not have the finesse of Guehi and Lacroix, but he complements them well with his excellent positioning and no-nonsense, consistently capable style of defending. It not only bodes well for Palace’s prospects for the rest of the season but also for USMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino as he plots a path towards the 2026 World Cup.

They also boast a fine goalkeeper in Dean Henderson, a regular again in England squads, although the fact that he has made an average of 1.6 saves per game this season (the third lowest in the Premier League) suggests he is very well protected.

Glasner regularly points out that everything starts from the back for his team. Ensuring they are difficult to score against is his priority. That, in turn, allows them to hit teams in transition and capitalise on the space with their wing-backs and the direct running of attacking midfielder Ismaila Sarr.

Familiarity and consistency

This is the bedrock of Palace’s success. Much of what they do has come from Glasner instilling a clear tactical plan, relying on players who are familiar with the way he wants to operate and prioritising the team over individual success. He is not afraid to cast aside anyone whose decisions are not in the best interests of the collective.

“Football is a game of momentum and I’ve not seen many games that go in one direction,” Glasner said in his press conference after the win over West Ham. “It’s our mentality (to dig in at difficult moments). This is the result of our good results not just for two weeks but for months.

“The players believe in what we are doing and they know. It’s about keeping calm and defending well — we’ve been doing this really well for months, it’s not easy to create chances against us. We can (then) rely on creating chances (ourselves).”

Glasner prefers to use a smaller squad, although he has little choice at Palace, who last season had the lowest budget of any of the established Premier League teams, despite now having three American billionaires — David Blitzer, Josh Harris and Woody Johnson — as general partners.

Palace’s core has been ruthlessly and efficiently coached to be effective and believe that they can beat anyone. The players have responded to that unrelenting positivity in kind.

The loss of influential attacker Eberechi Eze for an initial £60million ($81.2m) to Arsenal in the summer will hurt Palace in the attacking midfield positions but he was the only departure from their core squad. In came five new signings, of which two were versatile attackers to help fill that hole, with Glasner regularly observing that it is easier to integrate new talent from a position of strength.

A formidable No 9

It helps that, in Jean-Philippe Mateta, Palace have a striker in the best form of his career.

Mateta’s opener against West Ham was his 50th goal in all competitions for Palace, with 34 of them coming in 68 games under Glasner. He scored 30 times in the previous two league seasons but it is just not his goals that are so significant: his much-improved hold-up play is an integral element of how the team builds attacks.

Senior international recognition with France may not yet have arrived but his performances should have caught the eye of many clubs in the Premier League and Europe.

Offers have not been received, and Palace are keen to price teams out of any approaches. An extension to take the 28-year-old’s existing deal beyond the summer of 2027 has been discussed but those talks are at an impasse. Clubs could do worse than seek to exploit that situation next summer.

Palace have gone about their business on the pitch by being durable and consistent. That may not necessarily attract the limelight, but given the win over West Ham put them fourth in the table on Saturday evening, the question was put to Glasner: did he think his team could target a Champions League place?

His response was to laugh it off and say that he pays no heed to the table. But to have that question even asked is a testament to the continuous improvement that has been evident throughout this impressive unbeaten run.

The sequence may not last much longer, given Liverpool are Palace’s next opponents at Selhurst Park on Saturday. But the last few months have underlined that, under Glasner, Palace fear nobody.

(Top photo: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

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