Both will be back with us. They were training with us last week but not ready to play, but now they are ready to play.Pierre Sage on Quinten Timber and Jørgen Strand Larsen CPFC.co.uk

Crystal Palace sit 15th in the Europa League league phase with four points from three games: a 4-0 thrashing of Lech Poznań at home, a 3-2 loss at Lyon and a 2-2 draw at Beşiktaş. Hoffenheim are eight places further back in 23rd after losses to OFI Crete and Beşiktaş were answered by a 3-0 win over Lyon.

Domestically the Eagles are under pressure. Nine Premier League games have brought two wins, one draw and six defeats, and they sit in the relegation zone after Saturday's 2-0 home loss to Tottenham, ruined by Jean-Philippe Mateta's 13th-minute straight red. That dismissal carries a three-game domestic ban, but he is available tonight and, according to Sage, "wants to change things".

The big boost is fitness. Quinten Timber and Jørgen Strand Larsen, both out since the draw in Istanbul, are ready. "Both will be back with us," Sage told his press conference. "They were training with us last week but not ready to play, but now they are ready to play." Takehiro Tomiyasu will not return before the international break; Ismaila Sarr is managing a groin problem; Chadi Riad continues rehabilitation from a long-term knee injury.

This is Palace's eighth match in 25 days. Sage called the European load "exciting" and "a good thing" after last season's Conference League win, and said three full training sessions before tonight matter. "We are trying to improve offensively, especially in the way we play through the back of our opponents' last line. We didn't attack the way we had decided beforehand in our past two games."

Hoffenheim arrive with their own long injury list — Vladimir Coufal, Bambase Conté, Patrick Wimmer, Valentin Gendrey, Albain Hajdari, Nathan De Cat and Max Moerstedt among those out — but Alexander Prass is back from suspension and Andrej Kramarić contributed to all three goals against Lyon. Palace are unbeaten in seven European games at Selhurst (W5 D2).

"When you believe in your work and you give your best every day, consequently you believe you will get the results," Sage said. Three points tonight would pull the Eagles closer to the knockout places.

Compiled from BBC Sport, CPFC.co.uk, Sports Mole, Radio Times.