Crystal Palace go into their first meeting with Hoffenheim on Thursday with a small but timely lift: Pierre Sage said Quinten Timber and Jorgen Strand Larsen are back available for selection. Sage also said all the other Palace players would be okay, giving the squad a cleaner shape as it tries to steady itself after a rough spell.
The timing matters because Palace arrive in Europe under pressure. They lost 2-0 to Tottenham last time out and sit 18th in the Premier League after three consecutive league defeats without scoring, their worst such run since March 2023. In Europe, they drew 2-2 with Besiktas in their last match and are trying to avoid going three games in continental competition without a victory for the first time.
Sage framed the fixture as part of the payoff for last season's success, saying European football is what happens when a team wins the Conference League, and he stressed that Palace have to manage three competitions at once. His point was not just about prestige. It was about time. Palace have had only three training sessions before the Hoffenheim game, one more than before the previous two matches, and Sage said that extra session mattered for confidence, for the game plan and for the players' ability to carry it out.
That is where the availability boost becomes more important. Timber and Strand Larsen had trained with Palace last week but were not ready to play then, so their return expands the options even if neither is guaranteed a start. Palace also have Jean-Philippe Mateta available after his red card against Tottenham was appealed successfully on Wednesday, though he will now miss the league games against Liverpool, Coventry City and Hull City. For a side trying to survive a demanding schedule, that split matters: one part of the squad gets stronger for Hoffenheim, while another loses a central forward for the league.
Hoffenheim bring a different kind of pressure. They have lost all five of their games against English sides in Europe, though they have scored in every one of those matches and have taken seven goals while conceding 13. They beat Lyon 3-0 in their last Europa League game, their biggest European win since December 2020, so Palace are not facing a side short of confidence. The question now is whether Sage's extra options and extra preparation time are enough to turn a difficult run into a first European win at the right moment.
