LONDON -- Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner highlighted his side's xG (expected goals metric) in the Premier League this season as a sign of their ability to cope with Eberechi Eze's departure.
Eze was Palace's talisman last season, registering 25 goal involvements in all competitions and leading the club to FA Cup glory.
He scored in the quarterfinal, semifinal and final as the south London club lifted the first major trophy in their history.
His move to Arsenal for a fee up to £67.5 million ($91m) was the second successive summer Palace let go of one of their key attackers after Michael Olise joined Bayern Munich in 2024.
This weekend will see Eze come up against his former side, who have fared admirably since his departure. Palace are eighth in the Premier League, having scored 12 goals across their eight games.
They began their first-ever campaign in a major European competition with a win over Dynamo Kyiv in the Conference League before losing to AEK Larnaca on their home debut on Thursday.
"We lost definitely a player [Eze] who could decide games on his own [and] on the other side," Glasner told a news conference after the defeat to Larnaca.
"It's also a fact and sometimes for me and especially today after such an emotional game or such a disappointing defeat, it's good to look at the facts and my staff [always] get the stats.
"I think we have the highest xG [19.10] in the whole Premier League ... Crystal Palace after selling Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze and bringing in Yeremy Pino. And this is credit to the players, this is credit to the team, not to the individuals, the whole team.
"Crystal Palace having the highest xG [in] the whole Premier league in front of [Manchester] City, Arsenal, Liverpool ... all these teams. It just shows how much effort this team shows every single game.
"And so yes, of course everybody who likes Crystal Palace would like to have Michael and Ebs [Eze] still in the squad. But on the other side it shows that we also can create enough chances to score goals.
"But now again, this is also what we have just to learn and to prove and give the players time to be that efficient and so they get this time.
"Yes, they lost a fantastic player and an even more fantastic person ... looking forward to meeting him but no friendship during the game."
Despite their attacking flair, Palace will have their work cut out against an Arsenal side that are top of the table and have conceded just three goals this season.
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Glasner called on his side to be efficient up front and spoke of taking lessons from their visit to the Emirates Stadium last season, where they went behind twice but still came away with a draw.
"I said before Bournemouth [that] I don't expect a 3-3 [result] and then it happened ... I think the last result at the Emirates which was 2-2 and even there we had great chances before we scored the equalizer and it was three days before the semifinal of the FA Cup. So we are looking forward to this game," he said.
"Of course I watched their game against Atlético Madrid and you could see they're very efficient, very dangerous in set plays and they can always create situations with good runs in behind with the wingers.
"So now we have many, many strengths, but on the other side, and this will be important there and maybe it [clicks] at the Emirates to be efficient ... having one, two chances [and] scoring one or two goals. Because again, I don't expect [to have] seven or eight big chances. But on the other side, I hope I'm wrong like I was before Bournemouth [and] we have seven, eight big chances there."