'You don't talk about the egg before the hen lays it'

"You don't talk about the egg before the hen has laid it."

Football managers are forever finding creative ways to divert questions and manage expectations - and Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner delivered this unusual answer when asked about the prospect of winning the club's first ever major trophy.

The 50-year-old Austrian, whose side face Manchester City in Saturday's FA Cup final (16:30 BST), has led his side to the brink of history.

Palace will qualify for Europe should they win at Wembley, and they need just one point from their final two games to set the club's best Premier League tally.

It's easy to forget they did not win a league match until 27 October - their ninth game of the season - as pressure built around the club.

But Palace's record since beating Tottenham Hotspur that day is the sixth-best in the division, behind only Liverpool, Newcastle, Arsenal, Chelsea and Nottingham Forest.

Such is their great form that boss Glasner has been linked with moves to RB Leipzig and Spurs, who have been beaten twice by Palace this season.

The Austrian has turned the south London side into a force to be reckoned with since replacing Roy Hodgson in February 2024 - and boasts the highest points-per-game record (1.49) of any Palace boss in the Premier League era.

When Glasner arrived, his energy and enthusiasm had a big impact at Selhurst Park, providing a huge boost to the players.

Palace ended last season with six wins from seven, but momentum was lost during a busy summer as star player Michael Olise joined Bayern Munich, seven players reached finals of major tournaments and four new signings arrived on transfer deadline day at the end of August.

That meant the core of Glasner's team did not have a pre-season - far from ideal given the Eagles' leader demands top fitness levels from his squad to implement the high energy tactics he likes.

Now that they have settled and sharpened, Palace are a wholly different proposition.

"I'm very pleased," Glasner told BBC Sport. "Not just with the improvements, but I think with the environment we have created here at the training ground and also in the club.

"We are very ambitious, everyone is working very hard to progress, and this is the main reason why we are where we are now at the end of the season.

"We are really settled in mid-table and looking at the teams in front of us more than looking at the teams who are behind us.

"We are also playing the FA Cup final and very pleased with what has happened in the last 15-16 months."

The Eagles have never won the FA Cup - twice losing finals to Manchester United in 1990 and 2016.

However, Glasner has experience of success, having led Eintracht Frankfurt to Europa League glory in 2022, and he lifted the Austrian Cup twice with SV Ried, where he spent most of his playing career.

Palace co-owner John Textor initially wanted Glasner for Lyon, one of his other multi-club ownership teams, and he would have been in charge there if he could speak French.

In an interview with BBC Sport last year, Textor said the Austrian was a "better fit" for Palace and he impressed chairman Steve Parish and then-sporting director Dougie Freedman.

"He's part of the modern breed of managers that manage everything about the player, the body," said Textor. "He runs his players up to 120% of game intensity on a Wednesday and manages their recovery, so they go into 90 minutes on a Saturday and they feel it's a walk in the park.

"As far as his style of play, I thought it was the perfect match. Oliver's theory is that he'd rather win the ball in their half... they'll know where the vulnerability is."

In some news conferences, Glasner confidently dissects opposition tactics to the media - even doing so when his side faced Manchester City and Pep Guardiola in December.

"We knew we can play a higher intensity [than City] - all the data showed this," he said after Palace's 2-2 draw. "We knew when we get into the transitions we'd get in behind.

"There was so much space on the opposite side next to [Ilkay] Gundogan. When you play with one number six, 4-1-4-1, like City are playing, there is a lot of space on the left and right of the number six."

Glasner is hugely positive and consistently tells his players to approach every game with a winning mentality.

While preparing for a Europa League game with SV Ried in 2011, he suffered a brain haemorrhage aged 37.

Glasner had suffered a head injury in a previous game and, after trying a heading drill in training before an upcoming match, he needed to be rushed to hospital for emergency surgery after becoming unwell in his hotel room.

Asked if the brain haemorrhage - which ended his playing career - was the reason for his positive outlook, Glasner played it down.

"Of course everything that happens in our life influences our mindset. I just try to be positive because life is just much better when you're that way," he said.

"Because when you are always moaning, you're always complaining about something, you are always in a negative spiral and you can't enjoy many things. That's why I want to see the positive side of it.

"It's a good picture, you can always see the glass half empty or half full but it's still the same amount of water.

"It's just how you judge it and it's like this in many situations. It's more self-protection to have a good and happy life.

"It doesn't mean that I am always happy or singing and dancing around, but with judging and doing things I'm always on a positive side."

The Eagles have picked up some big results under Glasner and his 3-4-2-1 formation has allowed him to build around their attacking talent.

However, despite the formation being a hallmark of his tenure, he actually admitted his favourite formation is 4-4-2.

One of the players who has shone in recent weeks is Eberechi Eze but, like the team as a whole, it has not been a straightforward season for the Palace forward.

Glasner said Eze had a "strange" start to the season as small injuries, disallowed goals and missed opportunities did not allow him to get into his flow.

But since scoring his first England goal in March, Eze's form has improved, with six strikes and two assists in the following nine games.

"It looks like this goal for England [has made a difference], his first goal for England, I know how much that means for him," added Glasner.

"This is what he deserves, scoring a goal for your country, and it has helped him to maybe get into this little bit more 1, 2, 3% of confidence back, and since then he has scored many goals, many important goals, the first goal, the opener and he can do it in the final as well."

So back to that question of winning the FA Cup, eggs and hens...

"We haven't won anything at the moment," explained Glasner. "We're in the final and have had a great journey in the FA Cup.

"We will do everything we can to win the trophy but I think Manchester City will do the same.

"We are looking forward to it and in great shape. We have almost every player available and in good shape and that is the most important thing. Let's see how the final goes."