Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew says goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey will keep his place despite recent poor form.
Dwight Gayle will not feature because of a hamstring injury, joining Yannick Bolasie and Damien Delaney on the sidelines.
Tottenham’s Ryan Mason again misses out with an ankle injury.
The likes of Dele Alli, Harry Kane and Hugo Lloris will come back into the starting XI after they were on the bench against Leicester in midweek.
Editor’s Note: Crystal Palace are currently struggling to find the most precious commodity in Football….Goals. They are without a goal in 5 league matches and that has returned just 2 points out of a possible 15. They haven’t managed to register a league goal since December 19th.
Alan Pardew will be grateful that his Palace side got enough of a decent start in the first half of the season as the form since Boxing Day has been pretty poor. They still find themselves 8th in the table but the season looks like it’s meandering to mid table nothingness when a month ago there was the excitement of a realistic European place challenge.
They will look to end this goalscoring drought this Afternoon as they play host to 4th place side Tottenham. The last time these two sides met back in September it was Mauricio Pochettino’s men who got all 3 points with a slender 1-0 victory at White Hart Lane.
Spurs will be buoyant after their F.A. Cup 3rd Round Replay win on Wednesday over Leicester and also the fact they returned to winning ways in the League on Saturday. The didn’t have the best opening 45 minutes last Weekend but it was one of the days where the result was more important than the performance so the 3 points were more than welcomed as they look to sustain their chase for Champions League Football next season.
On Wednesday it was a test of Spurs’ squad depth and they came through that test with flying colours as key men such as Dele Alli and Harry Kane were rested but the support cast of Heung-Min Son and Nacer Chadli stepped up to the mark and their goals put Tottenham into the 4th Round of the Cup and a tie against Colchester next Saturday.
Again much will be made of the fact that Spurs still haven’t signed a Striker and whether Harry Kane can get through a whole season on his own, Mauricio Pochettino has gone on record and said “If we cannot find a player to improve what we have then will not be looking at getting anyone else in” so whether the hunt for an additional forward has cooled off remains to be seen.
Whereas Palace could do with just someone who can find the net, they really haven’t been the same side since perennial Tottenham target Yannick Bolasie has been injured. His injury will scupper any potential move this month but that’s not to say the North London won’t come back with a bid in the Summer.
As for the result I think Palace will certainly get a goal because anytime a team hasn’t won or scored in ‘X’ and they then face Spurs you can guarantee that baron run will come to an end. But that said I think Spurs will still have enough in them to win the game. I’ll go for an away win but both teams to score.
