Opposition Preview: Crystal Palace
By Tom Vinall
This Sunday, Spurs will travel across London to face Crystal Palace, for the third of five consecutive games in the capital.
It has been a nightmare start to the 24/25 Premier League season for Palace, who have drawn three and lost five of their opening games, as they remain one of four teams not to have won a game this campaign. They have won two games in the Carabao Cup, but they were both against Championship opposition.
They ended last season in absolutely superb form, winning six and drawing one of their final seven games of the season. Highlights of the last couple of months include a 1-0 win against Liverpool at Anfield, and a 5-0 win against Aston Villa on the final day.
However, they have not been able to continue this form into the 24/25 season. One of the obvious factors was the sale of starman Michael Olise, who departed the club for Bayern Munich in July. Joachim Andersen also departed the club to re-join Fulham in August.
They did manage to keep Eberechi Eze, despite perennial links away to Spurs, among other clubs. However, the 26-year old has shown nowhere near the form he did last season, nor Jean-Phillippe Mateta, who ended up with sixteen league goals last time out.
In midfield, Adam Wharton, who had an incredible impact last season, having joined from Blackburn Rovers in the January transfer window, has also not hit the same heights as last season. There has been talk that a groin injury has been hampering him, and the 20-year old could be set to have surgery as a result.
New signings, such as Eddie Nketiah and Ismaila Sarr, have not been able to make much of an impact so far. New signing Maxence Lacroix has generally been fairly good in central defence, but Trevoh Chalobah has struggled since joining from Chelsea.
Oliver Glasner religiously uses a three at the back formation, whether it be 343 or 3412. There won’t be a lot of room in the box from crosses, with there being three central defenders, but due to having two midfielders in there, they can be overran at times, which could be a key battle.
It will be interesting to see whether or not Ange goes with the midfield that started the second half against West Ham United: Yves Bissouma, Dejan Kulusevski – Pape Sarr. Perhaps that is why Ange started James Maddison against AZ Alkmaar – because he knew he wouldn’t be starting him for this game.
Possible Crystal Palace starting XI; Henderson, Chalobah, Lacroix, Guehi; Munoz, Lerma, Hughes, Mitchell; Eze; Nketiah, Mateta.