Crystal Palace welcome Tottenham Hotspur to Selhurst Park in a London derby encounter.
Victory would see Palace stay 11th in the table, whilst Tottenham will reduce their deficit to fourth-placed Manchester United to two points with a win.
Team News
James Tomkins is available for Crystal Palace after he missed their win at Bournemouth due to an one-match suspension.
Sam Johnstone (coccyx), Tyrick Mitchell (suspension), James McArthur (groin) and Nathan Ferguson (foot) both remain absent.
Tottenham could be without Dejan Kulusevski as he battles to recover from a muscle injury in time, which kept him out of their defeat against Aston Villa.
Yves Bissouma is suspended after he collected his fifth booking of season in their New Year’s Day loss.
Rodrigo Bentancur (groin), Richarlison (hamstring) and Lucas Moura (tendon) remain absent.
Stat Attack
- Palace have claimed five points from their last five meetings against Tottenham (W1, D2, L2).
- Tottenham have lost just one of their last seven league visits to Selhurst Park (W4, D2, L1).
- Last season saw Palace and Tottenham win their home game by 3-0 result.
- Four of Palace’s last five goals at homee have been scored by Ebrechi Eze and Odsonne Edouard, who have both scored twice.
- Spurs are yet to avoid defeat in a London derby this season (D3, L1).
Prediction
Despite losing Mitchell and Tomkins to suspension following red cards in their Boxing Day loss to Fulham, Palace really impressed in their response with an energetic front-footed performance to comfortably dispatch Bournemouth on New Year’s Eve.
Now I would like to see Palace come out and deliver a similar performance especially given that this is a huge opportunity to capitalise on a sluggish Tottenham team, who have a habit of slow starts which offers a great chance for the Eagles to pounce upon with early goals if play at their best.
Speaking of Spurs, they just haven’t got going since the league resumed with two largely flat performances which Villa deservedly punished with a clinical display on New Year’s Day, so a huge response is needed if want to reverse their trend of slow starts which seems to now cover entire matches.
This clash is therefore going to be interesting because Tottenham need to produce a reaction to their loss against Villa, whereas Palace will be up for this if can get on the front-foot early and really get at Spurs who seem to lack that quick-clicking energy at present.
Prediction: Crystal Palace 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur
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