In many ways, the 10-man (then 9-man) second half against Liverpool was the most inspired Tottenham Hotspur has looked in quite a while, though even that effort was not enough to impact the final result. As a result, Spurs have made that lone win over Brentford look like an anomaly, as it is the only successful Premier League contest since October.
Crystal Palace, meanwhile, has enjoyed much more positive vibes for most of the year, though perhaps Tottenham is a little fortunate at this scheduling. The Eagles are now winless in four straight, with league losses to City and Leeds, a bad Conference League result that misses the bye, and a League Cup exit via Arsenal on Wednesday. This is a true test for Dr. Tottenham.
Match Details
Date: Sunday, December 28
Time: 11:30 am ET, 4:30 pm UK
Location: Selhurst Park, London
TV: USA Network (US), Sky Sports Main Event (UK)
Table: Palace (t-7th, 26 pts), Spurs (t-14th, 22 pts)
After five straight Tottenham wins, Palace did the double last season, keeping Spurs off the scoresheet entirely (which might not be entirely surprising). The match at Selhurst Park went 1-0 to the home side thanks to a first-half goal from Jean-Philippe Mateta; the return fixture in North London saw the visitors score twice thanks to, ahem, Eberechi Eze.
Three Big Questions
Is momentum real? While Liverpool had more goals — and fewer red cards — than Spurs in the second half, Saturday was the first time it felt like there was both passion and intention from Thomas Frank’s side in far too long. Maybe there was not tons of possession or multitudes of high-quality chances, but the team looked determined to win back every lost ball and will its way to victory.
The logical answer here is no; there is no such thing in professional sports, and it seems extremely straw-grasping to cling to an effort that did not even result in a draw. However…what else do we even have?! I had fun watching the Spurs attack finally try to put pressure on the net, and it now faces a Palace side that gave up seven goals in its past two league matches. This is the chance.
Is the doctor in? On the other end, Oliver Glasner is not in a great spot: Palace is out of the League Cup and in a tough spot in the Conference League, with the strong start in the Premier League fading away as well. Now Chris Richards joins the injury list with Ismaila Sarr away at AFCON, setting up for a continued struggle ahead with bad result after bad result.
Still, this story feels all too familiar. The remedy to all woes will forever be a date against Spurs, and there is not a single soul who would be surprised to see the home side earn a resounding victory on Sunday. Hopefully Tottenham’s form is improving enough to avoid this curse, but the narrative feels so strong that overcoming it would be quite the upset.
Is there a plan against this type of side? Following this weekend come matches against Brentford, Sunderland, and Bournemouth, with all four clubs representing the middle of the table that seems to be surpassing Spurs as of late. Figuring out how to take on these fixtures will set the tone in January for the rest of the league season.
Tottenham has been better at home than on the road this season and three of these contests will be away from North London, so Frank will have to hope that trend holds. Falling in these matches is a bad omen for everything else to come, with the climb up from 14th already a big ask. It is not a great time for Spurs right now, but a win against Palace and some of the Eagles’ peers could suddenly get things back on track.