LONDON (Reuters) -Crystal Palace travel to Everton on Sunday riding high on a club-record 19-match unbeaten streak but manager Oliver Glasner said protecting that sequence is not a priority.
Palace's first-ever European match ended with a 2-0 win against Dynamo Kyiv in the Conference League on Thursday and they have not lost a match in any competition since April 16.
"All the credit to the players, because they have to perform on the pitch and they have to work so hard that we can get these results," Glasner, who led Palace to FA Cup glory last season, said. "But honestly, we don't talk about the run in our meetings, or on the pitch.
"The approach is the same. We don't go to Everton saying 'let's just extend the run', we go there and will try to win. Every win, every good performance, increases the self-confidence, and this is what we can see."
The London club have been in stunning form and inflicted a first defeat of the season on Premier League champions Liverpool last week to move third in the table.
While Glasner prefers not to focus on the 19-match unbeaten run, the longest in Europe's top five leagues, the statistics of it illustrate why the Austrian's reputation has risen sky high.
They have scored 28 goals in those 19 games, conceded 12 and kept nine clean sheets while seven of the matches in the streak were against the Premier League's traditional 'big six'.
Palace's previous longest unbeaten run came between February and August in 1969 when they went 18 without defeat before a trip to Everton ended it.
Glasner will hope that history does not repeat itself but knows Everton will be a tough hurdle.
"I don't think Everton have struggled. They drew against West Ham (last Monday). They lost a very tight game against Liverpool, and I think they had a very good performance against them," Glasner said.
"They've made a few signings, like Jack Grealish -- a great player, a fantastic dribbler and I think he's near the top for creating the most chances."
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
