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Tottenham vs Crystal Palace – Premier League Match Preview

After a sensational win over Real Madrid on Wednesday night the focus for Tottenham now shifts back to matters in the Premier League as they play host to Crystal Palace at Wembley in a few hours time, that performance was undoubtedly impressive in midweek but it will all count for nothing if they fail to get all three points this lunchtime.

The question that everyone is asking is whether or not this will be a case of after the Lord Mayor’s show as Tottenham gave it their all against the 2016 and 2017 Champions League winners and if they will have anything left in the tank when Roy Hodgson’s men make the short journey across the capital.

There are two absences for Tottenham going into this game as both Hugo Lloris and Toby Alderweireld picked up injuries during Wednesday’s clash with Los Blancos. The former managed to last the 90 minutes but the same could be said for the latter who made way for Moussa Sissoko.

And after back to back defeats across all competitions three points would have been a very welcome tonic for Spurs as they can put the defeats of both Manchester and West Ham United behind them and look to return to winning ways in the league.

It could be quite a pivotal weekend due to the fixtures taking place elsewhere later today, somewhere along the line there will be dropped points therefore in a sense Tottenham could very well get their win back over Jose Mourinho’s men and return to level on points with United once again.

That would however mean that the race to stay on Manchester City’s coat tails will have contracted further with Chelsea now being very much a part of proceedings but all Tottenham need to do is make sure their bit today as they take on the league’s basement side Crystal Palace.

Crystal Palace earned a dramatic late point last weekend when they were part of another London derby, West Ham provided the opposition and they also all but provided them with the goal that saw Wilfried Zaha level proceedings with the very last kick of the game.

A draw that felt like a defeat for the Hammers but a massive point in the context of their season. Roy Hodgson does have a habit of banking on his respective club’s home form and the fact that all their points have come at Selhurst Park probably comes as no real coincidence that all their points have come at home.

Ultimately the task now will be to add points on the road and they need to do that as soon as possible for the simple fact that Bournemouth’s win over Newcastle has seen them move out of the bottom three and if Watford lose to Everton later today then the Eagles are in serious danger of being cast adrift.

You also have to remember that those eight straight defeats will catch up with them at some point, they may have earned four points from the last three matches but at some point there is going to be another barren spell and it will be one that they simply cannot afford.

Naturally all teams go through a rough patch but when you’ve given yourself the equivalent of 30 matches to beat the drop when everyone else has given them 38 then you may life far harder than it needs to be and the last thing Palace will want is to go into the international break suffering another defeat.

As for the outcome this lunchtime by rights this has all the hallmarks of a ‘Spursy’ performance, the ecstasy of a fantastic result against the best that Europe has to offer and then the agony of dropping points at home to the side at the foot of the table.

But this should well be the game that finally breaks the mold in this regard and therefore I cannot envisage anything other than a Tottenham win as their tails should be most definitely up in a few hours time and ready to edge past what Palace throw in front of them. A home win, if not I give up. I truly give up.

Here is what social media thinks will happen – you can still vote on the outcome

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