Oliver Glasner: Adam Wharton’s England omission could be blessing in disguise

Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner feels Adam Wharton’s omission from the England squad could be a blessing in disguise.

The 21-year-old midfielder was not named in Thomas Tuchel’s 24-man group for the upcoming October internationals against Wales and Latvia.

Wharton had initially been included for the World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and Serbia last month, but had to withdraw because of an adductor injury.

Glasner, though, believes a bit of extra recovery time over the international break is likely to beneficial for the Eagles, who set a club record 19-match unbeaten streak after a 2-0 win in their Conference League opener against Dynamo Kiev on Thursday night in Lublin.

“I just heard his (Tuchel’s) explanation,” Glasner said in an interview shown on Sky Sports News.

“He said he wants to stick to the group who performed so well, especially at Serbia and we have to accept it, like always.

“Then we try to do the best of it and so Adam will have a few days to rest, that is also good for him.

“We have a very tight schedule, (when we have) many games to play, so let’s see.”

Palace will be back in domestic action on Sunday against Everton after another impressive display which followed on from last weekend’s dramatic Premier League win over champions Liverpool.

Eddie Nketiah came off the bench against Dynamo to follow up his stoppage-time goal at Selhurst Park with a second-half strike which put the European tie beyond the Ukrainians.

Nketiah – who had also seen a neat finish ruled out shortly before his goal on the hour – maintained Glasner’s FA Cup winners would not be getting ahead of themselves.

“We just go game by game,” Nketiah said on Palace TV.

“Obviously we have created a really good culture in there (the dressing room). Everyone just wants to contribute, everyone wants to play, everyone wants to win.

“We are not really looking at the numbers, we are more looking game by game, just trying to pick up as much points as we can in both competitions, so we are just going to keep doing that.”

Midfielder Will Hughes was forced off early in the second half against Dynamo with a dead leg, so will be monitored ahead of the trip to Merseyside.

“All the players have come back from Poland healthy. There was just one small question mark over Will Hughes,” Glasner said, quoted on the Palace website on Friday.

“He had a knock on his quad, so it’s a little bit questionable, but it looks like he’ll be OK.

“But everything with the trip went like we scheduled it, so that is why we will train in the afternoon. Tomorrow we will go to Liverpool and prepare well.”