Last weekend’s dismantling of West Ham made it three league wins in four for Tottenham Hotspur, and six in seven across all competitions after Thursday’s success in the Europa League. A season is full of peaks and valleys, and after some frustrating results to open up the campaign, the vibes have completely flipped. Spurs look to keep the good times rolling at Selhurst Park on Sunday.
Crystal Palace is (shockingly) nowhere near the middle of the table. The Eagles might end up there — as they seemingly always do — but they enter the weekend way down at 18th place, thanks to a total of zero wins on the year through eight matches. London derbies always feel a bit tricky, but Spurs are the in-form side here and are the favorites to take the points.
Crystal Palace (18th, 3pts) vs. Tottenham Hotspur (7th, 13pts)
Date: Saturday, October 19
Time: 10:00 am ET, 2:00 pm UK
Location: Selhurst Park, London
TV: Peacock (USA), TNT Sports 1 (UK)
Despite the abysmal record, there are some minor bright spots for the Eagles. No loss has been by more than two goals, putting the defense around league-average, and they mustered draws against Chelsea and United. However, Palace has scored just five goals so far, dead last in the league, epitomizing what has clearly been a tough start to the season.
Tottenham has won the last five straight between these two, which appears to be its longest streak against any current Premier League side. Last fall’s win at Selhurst Park featured a Joel Ward own goal off the boot of James Maddison and a second from Heung-Min Son. The reverse fixture saw Spurs down until the 77th minute when Timo Werner, Cristian Romero, and Son scored three in just over 10 minutes to flip the match.
Blue chippers
Oliver Glasner’s hire seemed to be the perfect fit after Palace won six of its final seven matches last year, but clearly that has not carried over. Mark Guehi and new signing Maxence Lacroix have been good anchoring the defense, but that has really been the bright spot. Jean-Philippe Mateta has a couple goals, but Eberechi Eze has not quite got going, and of course Eddie Nketiah has yet to make an impact (lol).
Meanwhile, Tottenham’s best are playing up to their level. Dejan Kulusevski is nothing short of elite since moving more centrally, Son returned convincingly, and the supporting cast are doing their share as well. Against a frankly inferior opponent, the stars should have their way. Son scored in both fixtures last season, and even if he is out, someone like Kulusevski can take the mantle. It should not take a herculean effort to make a difference in this one.
Keep it clean
Maybe this is setting myself up to look stupid, but this appears primed for a clean sheet. Palace has scored once in its past four league contests — a lone goal against Everton. Meanwhile, aside from the Brighton debacle, Spurs have allowed totals of one, one, zero, and one dating back to the Arsenal loss in the league and are coming off a clean sheet Thursday. Yes, the defense is still prone to dumb mistakes too often for comfort, but that is really the only way Palace is scoring here.
I choose to have some faith in the back line. Tottenham settled down after that early goal last weekend and played fairly soundly after that. Destiny Udogie still has looked off, but we know the talent across the defense is there. The substitution of Pape Sarr into midfield last weekend helped as well, and the visitors should have no trouble owning the ball and controlling the middle of the pitch this Sunday.