Strasbourg have failed to score in just one home game this season. This was a European qualifier against Brondby, where they racked up 2.09 xGF but couldn’t find the net. The other interesting sample is games against historically higher quality opposition in France, where games against Monaco, Marseille, PSG, and Lyon have all finished with both teams scoring and an average of 4.25 goals.

There’s no doubt that Palace are a capable side defensively, but they were slightly fortunate to get a clean sheet at the weekend, with Wolves racking up 1.79 xG and missing two clear-cut chances. 

Palace have been pretty efficient at scoring against similarly matched and inferior opposition this season, where games against AEK Larnaca and Sunderland were the only times they unexpectedly failed to find the net. Funnily enough, Strasbourg have already faced all the top seven teams in France this season, but only managed to keep one clean sheet. Palace will certainly fancy their chances of grabbing a goal on Thursday evening.

Crystal Palace have only been defeated three times this season in all competitions, one of those was away to Arsenal at The Emirates, a fixture which doesn’t bear much weight as a variable for this selection. One of the other defeats was against AEK Larnaca, where they heavily dominated proceedings and were unlucky to lose after conceding 0.20 xG.

Glasner is sticking with a very similar XI for almost every match this season, and such continuity is bringing a level of consistency to their shape and organisation on the pitch. As previously covered, Strasbourg have faced all the teams in the top seven of Ligue 1, but they’ve only managed one victory. 

Given Palace’s position in the Premier League, and the relative differences in standard between Ligue 1 and the Premier League, this bodes well for the ‘double chance selection’.  With Palace now unbeaten in five matches, they will be hoping to make it six on Thursday evening. 

Palace are not a particularly expansive team; they are happier without possession, often looking to hold their shape and pick their moments on the counter attack. There’s solid reasoning to think that Strasbourg will be competitive in possession and get plenty of attacking phases to create shooting opportunities.  Palace are playing the same XI almost every game, and accounting for the strenuous demands of football, this means they have to sacrifice the ball at times, offering their opponents some level of impetus. 

Strasbourg are averaging 14.11 shots per home game across Ligue 1 and the Conference League, with an average of 5.97 hitting the target. Truthfully, these are pretty solid shots on target averages, and over 1.5 goalkeeper saves definitely feel within reach. There’s a good chance that Strasbourg could also be chasing the game, and this would be conducive to an increasing number of Strasbourg shots in the latter parts of the match.

Daniel Munoz is a mainstay in the Crystal Palace XI; he’s started every game this season. Munoz is an attacking-minded wing-back who provides both creativity and a goal threat. He’s not shy when getting into shooting positions and often pulls the trigger. Around 75% of his shots are coming from central areas in the penalty box, quite unusual for a wing-back, but it shows his proclivity to join the attack in central areas.

It’s a pretty straightforward selection in truth, Munoz will have a spring in his step after scoring at the weekend, and will hopefully be looking to add to his three goals so far this season. Munoz is averaging 1.14 shots per 90 across the Premier League and Conference League. He’s often getting a chance to pull the trigger in most games, and he’s now recorded 1+ shots in four out of his last five games for Palace, putting the odds somewhat in our favour here. 

While Palace won’t be expecting to completely dominate the game, they will have a decent number of attacking phases in the Strasbourg half, and this will increase the chances of Munoz's shot landing.