Tottenham Hotspur vs. Crystal Palace Premier League Preview
No one expected Tottenham Hotspur to achieve the rare win at Stamford Bridge, and even fewer would have predicted Chelsea to be the one to self-destruct in this fixture, yet an amazing result last weekend has pushed Spurs up to just two points behind sixth place heading into the next matchweek. Obviously, the season is extremely young, and there are a million clubs all bunched together in the table still, but it shows that the slow start could end up just being a blip.
Tottenham must keep the momentum heading into a date with Crystal Palace on Saturday. The Eagles are just 2-5-1 in the league, with both wins coming over clubs below both them - and Spurs.
Across all competitions they have just one win in five, losing to Lyon and drawing against Bestikas in the Europe League before (unconvincingly) defeating Fulham in the League Cup on Wednesday. This is a struggling club against one that finally looks to be putting it all together.
Perhaps that brings the risk of Dr. Tottenham, but I think instead this is only the beginning of what a revamped Tottenham can be.
Yes, injuries are still popping up, and two wins does not erase two-plus years of struggles, but this is not the time to be negative! Match Details Date: Saturday, October 31 Time: 1:30 pm ET, 5:30 pm UK Location: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London TV: NBC (US), Sky Sports Main Event (UK) Palace has won three of the last four in this fixture, including a miserable result at in North London last March.
Igor Tudor's gang grabbed the lead, but then lost Micky van de Ven to a red card and watched three goals go in within the 10 minutes between that and half time. Spurs had won the reverse fixture, though, with Archie Gray grabbing the lone goal at Selhurst Park right after Christmas.
Optimistically riding the vibes While Tottenham amassed just 0.86xG against Coventry and 0.74 xG against Chelsea, the attack absolutely looks refreshed. Five goals in those contests might be slightly generous, but certainly zero through the first four was also not exactly representative of reality.
As water inevitably finds its level, there are growing reasons to think this attack might end up just fine. Palace has not been good defensively, conceding five against Brighton and a pair against Newcastle last weekend, while also allowing multiple goals to Lyon and Besiktas.
The additional fixtures are not making things easy, and truthfully this does seem like a good time to be facing the Eagles. I know I said the opposite about Chelsea and we saw how that turned out, but clearly there is an opportunity here.