Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris misses out with a shoulder injury so Michel Vorm will again deputise.
Tom Carroll faces 10 days out after suffering a cut on his Achilles.
Crystal Palace’s Yannick Bolasie could make his first appearance of 2016 after recovering from a hip injury, while Bakary Sako is fit again after a month out with a hamstring problem.
Dwight Gayle and Joe Ledley could also make their comebacks from hamstring and thigh injuries respectively.
Editor’s Note: Tottenham are competing on three fronts this season and they will certainly want that to continue to be the case at the end of this Afternoon as they play host to fellow London side Crystal Palace. In the two encounters that these sides have previously had this season it’s Tottenham that have come out on top and Alan Pardew will be aiming to make sure that it isn’t a hat trick of wins for the North London side.
Spurs had Europa League duties on Thursday as they traveled to Fiorentina and came away with a solid 1-1 draw in a tie which can still go either way, that line up had 6 changes from the win over Manchester City last Sunday so again it will be a test of Mauricio Pochettino’s squad management as he tries to keep all his key players fit for the ever important season run in.
On the balance of play a draw was a fair result on Thursday with Spurs certainly in the ascendancy when in front but once Fiorentina managed to level things up they looked the most likely to go on and win the game. With Spurs having the away goal in the bank they will have the slight advantage going into next Thursday’s 2nd leg.
Last Sunday saw a coming of age performance for Mauricio Pochettino’s men as they outperformed Manchester City and firmly put themselves in the title race alongside Leicester and local rivals Arsenal but today the focus shifts to the F.A. Cup and a competition they haven’t won in 25 years.
Standing in their way today are a Crystal Palace side that haven’t won a Premier League game since December 19th and it’s only this cup run which is offering up a brief glimmer light in an otherwise miserable last couple of months.
Much will be made today of the return to White Hart Lane for Emmanuel Adebayor. His contract was cancelled by Tottenham in September and he was without a club until signing for the South London side last month.
It was reported that Tottenham are still paying a portion of his wages, so if he was to score today and to be honest it wouldn’t surprise me if he did then he really would come back to haunt his former side and it could prove costly in more ways than one.
Last time out Adebayor got his first goal for the club in a 2-1 defeat at home to Watford. This means that Palace haven’t won a game in 9 League matches and now find themselves 13th in the table. For a season that promised a possible Europa League spot in 2015 then 2016 has already been a year to forget.
If the league route for Europe is closed then the Cup route is still alive and Palace will look to progress further down The Road To Wembley, but it’s not going to be easy against a Spurs team that is flying high as of late.
With the momentum and it being at White Hart Lane you would make Spurs the favourites but a cup game coupled with a local derby can always mix thing up. Expect Spurs to pinch it but Adebayor to also score, the worst result for Spurs at this stage of the season would be a replay. In a way it might be better if they lost than opposed to a draw otherwise it’s further fixture congestion but you try telling that to the players, they are in it to win it.
