Team news and expected line up versus Crystal Palace

After the less than enthralling FA cup tie against Burnley on Monday, the Premier League is back with a bang – or at least we hope.

The opponents for this Saturday’s match is Crystal Palace, away at Selhurst Park, and will be televised live at 17:30pm on Sky Sports One. The match also marks Alan Pardew’s first game as the Eagles boss since his appointment from Newcastle.

Soft centre

Boss Mauricio Pochettino will be without his two favoured central midfielders for this game, as both Nabil Bentaleb and Ryan Mason are unavailable for selection. As widely reported, Bentaleb is away with Algeria for the African Cup of Nations.

In comparison, Mason is still believed to be suffering from the hamstring injury which forced him off during our game against Chelsea on New Year’s Day. We have reported that Spurs were hoping to do a deal for Adrien Rabiot, but that the move has slowed pace - meaning the Frenchman was unable to come in before this showdown.

As a result, it will be interesting to see what two players come in to our central midfield positions. All four of Stambouli, Dembele, Paulinho and Capoue have been used sparingly this season – so this could be any two of the fours chance to step up to the plate and prove their worth in Spurs colours.

I’d be inclined to go with Stambouli and Dembele – two players who have featured frequently off the bench this season, but still seem to have some part to play under Pochettino. In addition to the injury to Mason, Erik Lamela is also absent because of injury, his though is because of a calf problem.

What Poch and the pundits say

In his pre-match press conference, Mauricio Pochettino told journalists: “We have momentum but we need to keep that and increase our performances, and improve every day. The victory over Chelsea was good for all and gives more belief in our way. Why not keep that level in all games? We are capable of it, but we know it won’t be easy.

“It was more than just one victory. It was important to stop this idea that we cannot beat top sides. The players now feel it is possible and have greater belief in our skill and in our mentality. We expect a difficult game against Crystal Palace. We analysed them a few weeks ago, but now they have a new manager and new way of playing.”

As part of Sky’s Saturday night football coverage, pundit and former Spur Jamie Redknapp also previewed the game. Redknapp said: “Spurs come up against what I’d call a danger side on Saturday Night Football, in Crystal Palace – although they’re playing them at the perfect time. That’s because Yannick Bolasie and Mile Jedinak, their two best players, are away on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations and Asian Cup, respectively.

“Skilful Bolasie can always make something happen, while I’m a big fan of Jedinak, who is irreplaceable at set-pieces, organises the team, is their leader on the field and could have been the one to get around Eriksen and stop him playing.

“Their absence tips this fixture in Tottenham’s favour, for me. Yes, Wilfried Zaha has similar attributes to Bolasie, but the Spurs players will look at the Palace team-sheet and get a huge boost, knowing those two aren’t available.”

Predicted line-up

(4-2-3-1) Lloris; Walker; Fazio; Vertonghen; Rose; Stambouli; Dembele; Townsend; Chadli; Eriksen; Kane

 

Mmmm, Crystal Palace. Really like our matches at Selhurst, but not really because of football *hint hint nudge nudge*

 

Think we will go with the predicted line-up. Looks like Rose might have nudged Davies on the left. With Mason and Benteleb unavailable we will need Dembele to put in a shift and make the most of his chances. Im not sure about the other spot but I think Stam will get a start over Paulinho and Capoue. Have to admit to being very disappointed with Capoue, in the early season he was very good and had the highest number of effective passes in the league and was very involved in breaking up play and had good distribution. Unfortunately he seemed to drop off either due to some injury or laziness. Obviously Poch doesn't rate him for his style of play and there might be some issues with attitude and poor training. If we need some energy, pace and tempo then bring back Holtby.

 

That's the line-up that I hope for, especially with Bentaleb and Mason unavailable due to known reasons.
Dembele seems like he's starting to grasp MP's tactics (though at slow rate) and Stambouli, despite showing apparent lack of pace, can provide better cover than Paulinho or Capoue.

COYS

 

Stambouli was very poor last Monday and on the whole looks an average player. I'd go capoue and dembele with eriksen no 10. Townsend chadli. N harry up top.

 

Stambouli was one of our buys during the 'clever' window where we basically bought a load of reserves to add the number of reserve standard we already had.
Another great bit of buisness by Ming & Baldini

 

Lloris;
Walker; Fazio; Vertonghen; Davies;
Stambouli; Dembele;
Townsend; Chadli; Eriksen;
Kane

 

Palace were better than us in the reverse fixture, they came out and put pressure on us and we never gained our composure. We need to rectify that this time.
Suggested line up is good, although I would go for Davies at LB. Rose continues to show his immaturity by getting caught up in arguments with refs and their assistants and then losing his cool.
Townsend and Chadli need to up their defensive duties.
Please NO Paulinho.

 

And sold Sandro and sygi for these mugs!

 

Exactly Fran, Lunatics running the asylum.

We should have enough to get the 3 points the palace fans make it like a couldron and their team battle well. But with their main threat bolasie away the dynamics of their play will have to alter meaning we should be able to exploit the wide areas.
Need energy from the centre mids whoever plays there to ensure that HK and eriksen are allowed be effective. Also gota have Chadli on hes a genuine goal threat and in a game like this you need to grab whatever goals you can get.

 

Yeah, wont be easy at Palace, Pardews first home game i think, the eagles would love to beat us north london boys ! Stam and Dem for me in the middle unless Mason is fully fit, predicted line up looks pretty spot on. Hope we dont go behind in this game as their crowd will then be well up for it, keep it tight, work hard, and our talent should win the game. Coys.