Crystal Palace v Tottenham – Preview, Predictions and Best Bets

Crystal Palace host Tottenham at Selhurst Park on Friday night. The Eagles have scored just once in their last five matches and suffered a heavy defeat last week. Spurs are on fire and sit top of the table after nine rounds of action. Tottenham have won their last three matches vs Palace.

Crystal Palace Form

Palace made a strong start to this season with seven points from their first four matches. They won 1-0 at Sheffield United and 3-2 at home vs Wolves in that strong start. A 3-1 loss followed at Aston Villa as they conceded two goals deep in added time to lose out on a hard-fought point. After a dull 0-0 home stalemate against Fulham, they lost 3-0 to Man Utd in the Carabao Cup with several players rested.

With a full-strength team in place, they went back to Old Trafford four days later and won 1-0 in the league. Yet another 0-0 home stalemate followed against Nottingham Forest before taking a 4-0 pasting last week to Newcastle. They had 17 shots in the match but 10 of those came when it was already 4-0 down after 66 minutes.

Crystal Palace Team News

Roy Hodgson is missing some important players for this match, and he already has a small squad to call upon. Michael Olise is still a couple of weeks away from a return to action. Eberechi Eze has been outstanding this season and is a major loss due to a thigh injury.

Jeffrey Schlupp missed the Newcastle defeat, and he is touch-and-go to return for this clash. Will Hughes would otherwise deputise as the third central midfielder? Bench players, Dean Henderson and James Tomkins are also ruled out. One boost is that Matheus Franca returned from injury to make his debut in the defeat at Newcastle.

Crystal Palace Motivation

Right now, they’re not scoring goals nor carrying much threat on counters. They will try to nick the first goal and hold onto the 1-0.

If Palace fall behind, it is difficult to see them coming back. Hodgson has little on the bench to turn the game and would see a point as a great result even at home.

Tottenham Form

Spurs have had an exceptional season so far. They’ve won seven and drawn two of their nine league matches and their only ‘defeat’ was on penalties to Fulham in the Carabao Cup. They followed that setback by thrashing Burnley 5-2 at home before two very late goals to beat Sheffield United 2-1 at home.

A brilliant second half rescued a 2-2 draw at the Emirates against Arsenal before scoring a 96th-minute winner to beat nine-man Liverpool in fortuitous circumstances. Despite playing the whole second half with ten men, they scored and held on to a 1-0 win at Luton in round eight. They cruised to a 2-0 home win over Fulham on Monday, allowing their opponents just 0.17 xG in the first 83 minutes.

Tottenham Team News

Ange Postecoglou welcomes back Yves Bissouma in central midfield after suspension. Pape Sarr should shake off an illness to start once again. Rodrigo Bentancur is back in training after knee surgery, but this match comes too early for him.

Ryan Sessegnon, Ivan Perisic, and Manor Solomon are all ruled out with injuries. Destiny Udogie should shake off a knock to take his place at left-back. On the left wing, Richarlison is set to be preferred to Brennan Johnson once again.

Tottenham Motivation

Confidence and morale are high in the Spurs camp. Postecoglou only knows one way to play, and he will attack in this London derby.

At no point will Spurs settle for a draw but they will make substitutions to protect a lead in the final 20 minutes.

Key Stats

Tottenham have scored 2+ goals in 9 of their last 10 league matches.

Spurs have won 7 of their last 8 league matches.

Tottenham have won their last 3 matches vs Palace.

Crystal Palace have won just once in their last 6 matches.

Crystal Palace have scored just 1 goal in their last 5 matches.

Verdict

With the form of the two teams, this looks like a match with only one winner. Tottenham will fancy a clean sheet against a goal-shy opponent.

Best Bet: Tottenham win at 1.83

Value Bet: Tottenham win to zero at 3.20

Goalscorer Tip: Son to score anytime at 2.20Be part of the big weekend sporting calendar!

BET Contributor