‘What I loved’ – Oliver Glasner says Nottingham Forest draw shows Crystal Palace are still focused on Premier League campaign

Oliver Glasner said Crystal Palace’s performance in their 1-1 draw with Aston Villa proves his side have not lost their focus on the Premier League despite reaching the FA Cup Final.

Both teams ventured forward and looked to break the deadlock in the first half, but the clear-cut effort on goal came in the 34th minute when Daniel Munoz volleyed an effort that stung the palms of Matz Sels.

Forest should have taken the lead before half-time on the counter-attack when Anthony Elanga and Chris Wood linked up well, with the former Manchester United attacker being played through one-on-one with Dean Henderson.

However, Henderson stood tall to deny Elanga and kept his clean sheet intact.

Ismaila Sarr had Palace’s first chance of the match, heading just wide after meeting Daniel Munoz’s cross.

The Senegalese international, who scored two in Palace’s 3-0 FA Cup semi-final win over Aston Villa, then should have done better after being played through by Jean-Philippe Mateta, smashing a left-footed effort straight at Sels.

Forest went up the other end straight away, but Wood was unable to turn his shot past Dean Henderson, with Maxence Lacroix making a goal-saving block.

Palace were awarded a penalty after a VAR review in the 57th minute when Tyrick Mitchell snuck ahead of Sels from a Sarr cross and the Forest stopper brought the left-back down.

Eze, who missed his last penalty in the 5-0 defeat at Newcastle, made no mistake this time and gave Glasner’s side the lead.

Forest pulled one back six minutes later when Brazilian centre-back Murillo flicked Neco Williams’ drive back into the box into the back of the net, wrong-footing Henderson.

Eddie Nketiah fired a shot over the bar as Palace looked for a winner and Lacroix headed over after a well-worked free-kick routine.

Eze went agonisingly close to giving Palace all three points, but his curling effort from the edge of the box crashed off Selz’s crossbar and went out for a goalkick.

Palace had the ball in the back of the net in second-half added time after Nketiah turned Eze’s shot into the back of the net, but VAR showed the ex-Arsenal forward was offside.

The Eagles picked up their third straight Premier League draw in their first game since booking their place in the FA Cup Final.

“Disappointed would be the wrong word because I was pleased with the desire to win the game,” said Glasner.

“We missed a couple of chances today – especially at the end. We were unlucky in situations. 

“We had some games where we were very efficient and we could win – today we were not efficient enough.

“What I loved is that everybody was asking me if the players were focused on the league or if their minds were already at Wembley for the FA Cup.

“The players showed today and proved that they are 100 per cent at Selhurst and wanted to win the game.

“This gives me confidence for the last three weeks of the season.”

PICTURE: ALAMY