Oliver Glasner got off to a winning start last time out, but how will his team fare at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium? We look ahead to Saturday’s game with our Tottenham vs Crystal Palace prediction and preview.
Tottenham vs Crystal Palace: The Quick Hits
- The Opta supercomputer makes Tottenham favourites to get their top-four bid back on track, with Ange Postecoglou’s men beating Crystal Palace in 56.5% of pre-match simulations.
- Spurs have scored in 37 straight Premier League games, the outright second-longest run in the competition’s history. However, they have only kept one clean sheet in their last 16.
- Palace beat Burnley 3-0 in Oliver Glasner’s first game at the helm last week. Alan Pardew is the only previous manager to win his first two Premier League matches with Palace, incidentally overseeing victories over Burnley and Spurs in January 2015.
Match Preview
The Oliver Glasner era at Crystal Palace got off to a flying start last week, with the Eagles routing 10-man Burnley 3-0 to ease their relegation fears. Next on the Austrian’s agenda is a trip across the Thames to face Tottenham, who are looking to get their push for a top-four Premier League finish back on track after having a fortnight off to mull over their defeat to Wolves.
Chris Richards, Jordan Ayew and Jean-Philippe Mateta were on target for Palace last Saturday as they took full advantage of Josh Brownhill’s first-half red card, hauling themselves eight points clear of the drop zone with a convincing win at a more contented Selhurst Park.
Glasner is now looking to follow in the footsteps of Alan Pardew (yes, really), who is the only previous manager to win his first two Premier League games in charge of Palace. The Eagles’ opponents for those matches back in January 2015? Burnley and Tottenham.
Glasner will be without Michael Olise until after the March international break, but he could receive a huge boost ahead of Saturday’s game with Eberechi Eze in contention to return after a month out through injury. Despite starting just half of Palace’s league games this season, he has created at least 11 more chances than any other Eagles player (33 – Mateta, Ayew and Olise all have 22).
Ayew, meanwhile, has been involved in 10 Premier League goals this season (four goals, six assists), only having a hand in more in 2019-20 (11 – nine goals, two assists). After netting against Everton and Burnley, the Ghanian is looking to score in three successive games in the competition for the first time since June 2020.
Defender Marc Guéhi could miss another eight weeks after undergoing surgery on a knee injury, but in more positive team news, Joachim Andersen should start on Saturday after being withdrawn with cramp last week.
Due to Chelsea’s involvement in the EFL Cup final, Tottenham have had two weeks to prepare for Saturday’s game and to reflect upon their disappointing 2-1 defeat at home to Wolves. Postecoglou’s men looked to be in the ascendency when Dejan Kulusevski cancelled out João Gomes’ opener, but Gomes added a second following a wonderful Pedro Neto run to hand Wolves victory.
Since that loss, Spurs have slipped five points adrift of fourth-placed Aston Villa, albeit with a game in hand. The Opta supercomputer now rates their chances of a top-four finish at 31.9%, down from 59.1% before the Wolves match.
“I’m not a magician, I’m a football manager,” Postecoglou declared after that game, but the former Celtic boss has worked his wizardry on the Spurs frontline, with their current 37-game scoring streak the second-longest in the competition’s history, only behind Arsenal’s 55-match run between May 2001 and November 2002.
It’s at the other end where Tottenham’s problems lie, with Postecoglou’s men only keeping one clean sheet in their last 16 league games, conceding at least two goals in five of their last seven.
The hosts should be boosted by returning full-backs Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie, who offer Postecoglou’s men greater control against opposition counter-attacks. Udogie leads all Tottenham players for interceptions in the Premier League this season (28), while he ranks second to Porro (131 recoveries, 67 tackles) for recoveries (129) and tackles (60) among Spurs outfielders.
In the forward areas, Spurs will once again rely upon captain Son Heung-min, who experienced a rare off day against Wolves. However, Palace are among the South Korean’s favourite opponents; he has 10 goal contributions in 15 Premier League appearances against the Eagles, only managing more against Southampton (15) and Leicester City (13).
With 12 Premier League goals to his name in 2023-24, Son is one of two Tottenham players in double figures, alongside Richarlison (10). Richarlison is the top-scoring Brazilian in Europe’s top five leagues this campaign, though he has gone two games without a goal since netting twice against former club Everton in early February. Postecoglou will hope he has his shooting boots on for this one.
Tottenham vs Crystal Palace Head-to-Head
Tottenham earned a 2-1 win in the return fixture at Selhurst Park in October, with Son and Ayew on target after Palace defender Joel Ward put through his own net from James Maddison’s cross.
That result maintained Spurs’ unbeaten start to the season and kept them top of the table after 10 games.
Overall, Palace have a poor record against Tottenham, only winning one of their last 17 Premier League matches against them, a 3-0 victory under Patrick Vieira at Selhurst Park in September 2021.
They are also winless in their last 11 away league games against Spurs, drawing two and losing nine since a 1-0 win at White Hart Lane in November 1997.
Indeed, Tottenham have won their last eight home league matches against Palace by an aggregate score of 17-1. They won this exact fixture last season 1-0, with a Harry Kane goal enough to hand them the three points.
Recent Form
Spurs’ defeat to Wolves was their first at home in the Premier League since December, halting a five-match winning run at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. However, since beating Fulham 2-0 in October, they have conceded in each of their last nine home league games.
Palace, meanwhile, started the season by winning three of their first six away games in the Premier League (one draw, two defeats). Since then, the Eagles are winless in seven away games in the competition, drawing three and losing four.
Palace also have a dismal record when travelling across the capital, only winning one of their last 18 away London derby matches (nine draws, eight defeats) and going nine without a victory since a 2-1 triumph over West Ham at the London Stadium in November 2022 (four draws, five losses).
Tottenham have lost two of their last three home London derbies in the Premier League, against Chelsea (1-4) and West Ham (1-2), though they did beat Brentford 3-2 in their last such match.
They have not lost three London derbies at home within a single campaign since 2004-05.
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system that assigns an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off this weekend, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.
Tottenham vs Crystal Palace Prediction
Tottenham have generally been strong at home this term, and the Opta supercomputer is forecasting a response from Postecoglou’s men on Saturday.
Across 10,000 match simulations conducted by the supercomputer before kick-off, Spurs won 56.5%, with Palace victorious in 18.5% and 25.0% finishing all square.
Though Tottenham enter Matchday 27 five points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa, they remain three clear of Manchester United in sixth with a game in hand, following the Red Devils’ surprise defeat to Fulham.
Spurs finish fifth – which could yet be enough for UEFA Champions League qualification – in a league-high 47% of the supercomputer’s season simulations.
Palace, meanwhile, are relegated in just 4.7% of scenarios following their winning start to the Glasner era. Fifteenth (21.7%) is viewed as their most likely final position.
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