It's beginning to look like some kind of punishment for the fans' poor turnout against Palace. No reason at all why ESU couldn't have been opened days ago.
There's a definite logic to that though I suspect the club by now has picked up on the fact that loads of people are just waiting for ESU or WSU to become available.
I'd imagine the lower bowl is now full enough to justify the staffing costs and it's probably worth opening ESU sales as of now...