Tottenham Look For Positive Start At Crystal Palace In Premier League

Tottenham travel to Selhurst Park to meet newly promoted Crystal Palace in the Premier League for the first time since January, 2005. A London derby against a promoted side will make it a difficult afternoon for Spurs but Andre Villas-Boas will be looking for a positive start to get the season off on the right footing while hoping that his new signings making an early impression.

Michael Dawson ready to lead by example. [Photo: Jav The_DoC_66]

Palace regained their place in the Premier League last season for the fist time since 2004-05. They finished last season in 5th place in the Championship behind Watford and Brighton and the two teams who gained automatic, Cardiff and Hull. In the semi-finals, a two goal win at Brighton, after a scoreless draw at Selhurst Park took them to the Final where a penalty by Kevin Phillips in extra time gave them a win over Watford and a place in the Premier League.

Palace will be a hard-working team. They have lost their star player, Wilfried Zaha, who was transferred to Manchester United last January but returned to Palace on loan until the end of the season and helped them achieve their goal of promotion. Zaha scored both goals in the semi-final win over Brighton. Ian Holloway has made 9 summer signings to strengthen the squad in preparation for the Premier League including Dwight Gayle a young striker from Peterborough. Palace missed out on Darren Bent who has joined Fulham but are also interested in signing William Galas who was released by Spurs at the end of last season.

Palace Team:

Palace, like Tottenham, have an number of early season injuries to contend with – Jerome Thomas, signed from WBA, has an ankle injury. Glenn Murray, Palace’s top goalscorer from last season with 30 goals, is a long-term absentee while while Paddy McCarthy and Yannick Bolasie are also out. With injuries and so many new signings Palace will be an unknown quantity but one thing of which Spurs can be assured is that they will be well organised and competitive. A lot will be expected of Marouane Chamakh who was signed from Arsenal and the very experienced Kevin Phillips to contribute to their goals tally.

Ian Holloway will want his team to upset and put pressure on every Spurs player from the opening minute, not giving the new players any time to settle on the ball and then hope that his forward players can unsettle the Tottenham defence. He will hope to take advantage at corners and set-pieces and will be hopeful of success having seen Tottenham’s uncertainty in that area against Espanyol a week ago.

Tottenham Team:

Andre Villas-Boas acknowledges that Tottenham are facing a difficult task in their opening game. He announced that Gareth Bale would be out for the opening matches so taking away the ‘will he or won’t he’ be in the team questions. Lewis Holtby is still injured while Jan Vertonghen has recovered sufficiently to be undergoing a fitness test prior to the match to consider his availability. Sandro is doubtful while still recovering from last season’s injury but Younes Kaboul appears to have recovered and could play. AVB is expecting a difficult match saying,

"And it’s always difficult to play against a team that has just come up. We have to be disciplined and hopefully with the quality we have, we can make the difference and we hope can bring back the three points."

The Tottenham team will take a new look from last season with the possibility of the new signings making their debuts at Selhurst Park. The starting line-up could be very similar to the team which started in last Saturday’s friendly with either Kaboul or Vertonghen replacing Zeke Fryers. Etienne Capoue may also be in contention for a place depending on his match fitness following his transfer.

Spurs have have been away from home in their opening Premier League game on 15 occasions and this game will be their 16th time, more than any other club. Their last away win on the opening day was at Portsmouth in 2005 – a 2 – 0 success when with Jermain Defoe on the scoresheet. Their last London derby on the opening day was a single goal defeat at Upton Park in 1999.

One record which Hugo Lloris will hope to improve is that Spurs have only kept one clean sheet in their last 16 League matches against Palace, a scoreless draw at White Hart Lane in December 1994.

Tottenham will want to take an early grip on this match to dampen the enthusiasm of Palace on their return to the Premier League. If they can take that control they should be able to win the match but need to avoid slack defending at set-pieces. A win would be a boost for AVB and the new signings with a busy fortnight ahead of them.