Crystal Palace’s preparations for the beginning of the 2024/25 Premier League campaign continue on Saturday (12:30 BST), as the Eagles take on Crawley Town in a pre-season friendly LIVE on Palace TV+.
Oliver Glasner’s side are preparing to head to the United States to take on Wolves and West Ham in Annapolis and Tampa, but have a final chance to get minutes in the legs at Broadfield Stadium.
Crawley will be no easy opposition, however, with momentum behind them heading into a big season…
For only the second time in Crawley’s history, promotion to the third tier of English football has been achieved, and this time they are hoping to make their stay a prolonged one.
They were certainly not favourites to go up at the start of the 2023/24 campaign, having survived by the skin of their teeth the previous season, with a victory over Hartlepool United in the run-in enough to keep them up when defeat would surely have spelled a return to the Conference and the loss of their Football League status.
Under Scott Lindsey, they made smart additions to the side, most notably Danilo Orsi from Grimsby Town. Orsi, who had never been a prolific scorer at that level and had netted just twice the previous season, scored 25 times in his debut campaign for the Red Devils as they clinched the final play-off place on the final day of the season.
MK Dons were swatted aside in the play-off semi-finals, helped by an Orsi hat-trick in Milton Keynes, to set up a final against Crewe Alexandra at Wembley.
Who was on the scoresheet on the big day? You guessed it. Crawley were promoted with a comfortable victory.
The move up to League One will be a major step up, however, and their prolific centre-forward has signed for Burton Albion, meaning reinforcements could be needed. No fewer than 12 new arrivals have signed already, with more to follow.
Scott Lindsey has worked his way up the divisions, beginning his managerial career with Chatham Town in the Isthmian League, before moving to Swindon in 2022. He was just eight months into his new job before Crawley moved to appoint him as their new boss.
Just over a year ago, Palace made the same trip down to Broadfield to take on Crawley, and put on an attacking masterclass.
The Eagles scored four goals inside 24 minutes, with Jean-Philippe Mateta netting a brace to give signs of what was to come as he embarked on the most prolific campaign of his career.
With an exciting programme of matches ahead of Oliver Glasner’s Crystal Palace, make sure you subscribe to Palace TV+ to watch every minute of our remaining pre-season fixtures, both home and away, from just £19.99.
With Palace TV+, you'll also be able to watch Palace take on Crawley Town, before travelling to the United States to take on Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Ham United in the Stateside Cup, returning for a pre-season finale against Nantes at Selhurst Park.
Choose from a Palace TV+ pre-season bundle for just £19.99 for access to each of these matches live and on-demand (the full 90 minutes), wherever you are in the world^, until Wednesday 14th August 2024. The pre-season bundle pass is a one-off payment that does not auto-renew.
