Crystal Palace's European campaign resumes this week as they travel to the Balkans to take on Zrinjski of Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Conference League. This is Zrinjski’s reward for a decent continental campaign as Bosnia’s leading club, while Palace arrive after making their first foray into European knockout football after a solid, but ultimately underwhelming, group‑stage showing.
Zrinjski’s domestic numbers are those of a very solid side. They enter this game in good form in the Bosnian Premier League, with 13 wins, 4 draws and 4 defeats, and expected goals of 1.44 for and just 1.01 against per match. At home that improves to 1.65 xG for and only 0.86 xG against, showing that they typically create well and concede little in Mostar against domestic opposition.
Europe has been a sharper test, though, and across their 2025-26 Conference League campaign, they have eight goals scored and ten conceded in six matches, an average of 1.34 for and 1.67 against per game. They have kept just one clean sheet, allowing opponents to score in 5 of those 6 outings, and concede 20 attempts on target across those games (3.33 per match), despite seeing only around 42% of the ball. In simple goals terms, that 1.34 scored and 1.67 conceded profile puts Zrinjski’s European fixtures into a zone where over 2.5 is a fairly high-likelihood outcome.
Palace travel with a significantly different level of resource and squad depth, but their numbers hint at a side that wins more through structure than chaos. In the 2025-26 Premier League, they've scored 28 and conceded 32 in 26 matches, while over 2.5 goals have been scored in four of their last six games, with BTTS occurring in five of those.
The Eagles may feel more comfortable travelling away from home for this game given they've taken four points from their last two league games on the road. However, with Premier League survival far from assured, Oliver Glasner's side will find it tough to keep both eyes on this competition. We expect them to come through this tie given the Bosnian's only progressed from the group stage on goal difference, but it remains to be seen just how far they'll go.
Zrinjski 1-2 Crystal Palace
