Premier League: Spurs Under Huge Pressure at the Palace

Crystal Palace vs Tottenham Hotspur

The Premier League games keep coming thick and fast over the festive period and there is a cracker lined up at Selhurst Park when Spurs visit Crystal Palace on Wednesday.

It’s a battle for London pride but, more importantly, vital points in the pursuit of targets set by the owners, managers and fans of these two top-flight clubs. Tottenham, under the master tactician Antonio Conte are chasing a top-four place as a minimum, but they have an unhelpful habit of conceding first to make winning games so much harder and currently sit in fifth place.

Meanwhile the 11^th-placed Eagles, managed by Patrick Vieira, one of the best young coaches in European football, won plaudits last season for their style of play and they come into the back of a win away to Bournemouth on New Year’s Eve while Spurs crashed at home to Aston Villa on New Year’s Day.

Talking Points

Palace responds to Boss’s call

Head coach Patrick Vieira asked his team for a fast rebound from a 3-0 Boxing Day defeat to Fulham, in which he believed his men went down without a decent fight. “The quality has to be better,” said the boss. “This competitiveness we had…we need to get it back.”

And they certainly did at the first opportunity as Jordan Ayew and Eberechi Eze gave them a well-earned win away to Bournemouth on New Year’s Eve. Eze, who was outstanding on the night, is a real livewire and he has made three assists so far this season. His turn of pace and trickery takes some of the creative responsibility away from talisman Wilfried Zaha who, at 30 years of age, is still dominant with six goals and two assists and the Ivorian is sure to provide plenty morePremier League 2023 highlightsin the second half of the campaign.

At the other end of the pitch Joachim Anderson and Marc Guehi are forming an excellent pairing at centre-back and with 21 goals conceded Palace’s defence ranks eighth in the league.

Spurs cutting edge is severely blunted

While Vieira’s troops seem to be on the right lines Antonio Conte has some big problems mounting up. Tottenham’s home game against Aston Villa was one they really had to win to keep their top-four challenge on track, but they fell behind for the tenth game in succession as Villa’s Emiliano Buendia and Douglas Luiz made mincemeat of the hosts’ New Year resolution.

The Premier League 2023 betting oddsreckon Spurs’ Champions League hopes are fading and they need to act quickly. The Whites had been on a slump when they met Leeds United before the World Cup break, but goals from Harry Kane, Ben Davies and a brace for Rodrigo Bentancur handed them three vital points in a thrilling 4-3 win. But that ecstasy is all but forgotten and they are back to square one as Tottenham had an unhappy new year, failing miserably to produce a cutting edge. Conte’s men dominated possession but lost the shot count by 13 to six and four to two on target. A passing accuracy of 86 per cent is all well and good, but if you can only muster one clear-cut chance in over 90 minutes then you have a problem.

Spurs were booed off the pitch by their own fans after they slipped out of the top four, and no player could claim to have a good afternoon. The front six failed to provide any real hope of a goal while veteran keeper Hugo Lloris, on his first game back after the World Cup final, had a nightmare. He spilled Luiz’s shot which presented Ollie Watkins the chance to tee up Buendia for Villa’s opener.

Conte has plenty to think about and he needs to find a solution with time running out.

History

Spurs have had the better of the head to head meetings with Palace, winning 15 of the last 27 encounters, while the Eagles have won six and there have been six draws in all meetings since 1994.

Tottenham haven’t won at Selhurst Park on any of their last four visits. Last season Palace beat Spurs 3-0 with a late flurry of goals as Zaha converted a penalty and Edouard bagged a last gasp brace. But the Eagles lost by the same score line when they rocked up at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium later in the 2021/22 campaign.

Recent form is comparable, as Palace have won three, drawn one and lost three of the last seven while Tottenham have won two drawn two and lost three.

Betting Tip

Palace are at SBOTOP odds of 3.30 to win, with Spurs at 2.10, and I fancy the Eagles to give Spurs another tricky evening. Conte will set up to make sure his side doesn’t fall to another damaging victory, while tasking his strikers to rediscover their sharpness. A point is probably a better result for the hosts than their visitors and I reckon they have enough to earn at least that.

 

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