Following an important win away against Bournemouth, Crystal Palace return to home soil, where they will take on a Tottenham side that is going though something of a crisis right now. Will Patrick Vieira’s men add to the pressure that continues to build for Antonio Conte at Spurs? All will be revealed at Selhurst Park on Wednesday evening (8pm).
Palace’s inconsistent run continued last time out, but this time, it was time for the Eagles’ fans to celebrate, as they saw their team beat Bournemouth by two goals to nil on the road. That was a much-needed victory after defeats to both Nottingham Forest and Fulham.
Prior to those defeats, Patrick Vieira’s team had won two on the bounce, beating both Southampton and West Ham, but the Frenchman will want to see his team put together more of a solid run, as they’ve now lost three out of their last six.
For Wednesday It looked for all to see that the Tottenham boys had the perfect opportunity to steady things and get themselves back on track on New Year’s Day. They faced an Aston Villa side with a leaky defence on home soil, but again, they failed to deliver. It was another game where Antonio Conte’s seemingly pragmatic approach failed to yield dividends. They carried little offensive threat, while they continued to show that they do not have the defensive solidity to invite teams on to them, conceding multiple goals for the seventh league game in a row. They’ve won just two of those seven.
Not easy to face at home
Sure, Wednesday’s hosts were beaten at home by Fulham on Boxing Day, but we shouldn’t let that force us into thinking that they’re easy to face, because that’s not the case. Prior to that defeat, the Eagles had won three on the bounce at home, while they’d lost just one in six, losing only to Chelsea and Arsenal.
Prior to that Fulham defeat, which can largely be put down to the fact that they had a player sent off either side of half time, Palace had conceded just two goals in three games at home.
If we look at the Premier League table, then we can see that Palace are comfortable in the top half when it comes to goals conceded at home, while they are also in the top half for expected goals conceded. In terms of clean sheets, they’ve come up short, as they’ve recorded just one shutout at home this term, which puts them in the bottom four in that respect.
Not firing at all
Yes, Spurs have injuries right now, and those injuries are certainly not helping them offensively. Brazilian forward Richarlison can add an offensive spark to any team, as we saw at the World Cup, so he is a miss, as was Dejan Kulusevski, who has been Spurs’ main source of creativity for a while. Lucas Moura being out also means that Antonio Conte cannot rely on pace from the bench.
It seems that Spurs are heavily reliant on Harry Kane to both create chances and score goals, and opposition teams have worked that out, and as such have been paying close attention to the England captain. If Kane is not allowed the time and space to dictate in the opposition half, then Spurs struggle, especially since Heung-min Son, who was so prolific last term, is having a considerable lull in terms of attacking productivity. The South Korean has not scored in the league since notching against Leicester back in September.
If we look at their recent record, then yes, Spurs have scored goals, but at times, those goals have been fortunate, while many of them paper over some rather sizable cracks. They failed to score last time out, and if you’d been watching regularly, you would’ve known that it had been coming for a while.
A bogey venue for Spurs?
The Lilywhites have found it difficult visiting Selhurst Park in recent seasons. Last term, they were beaten by three goals to nil, while they could only manage to take a point on their two visits back in 2020. Wednesday’s visitors are now without a win in four away against Palace, two of which have gone the way of the hosts.
In recent years, this fixture has lacked goals. Since 2017, the pair have met at Selhurst Park on seven occasions, and more than two goals have been scored in just one of those seven. Both teams have scored in just two of those seven.
Goal drought
Given what we’ve seen from the pair in recent times, ‘Under 2.5 Goals’ is very appealingly priced at a shade under even money.
The hosts have scored just once in their last two at home, while they’ve not scored more than twice in any of their last six at home. They’ve also conceded more than once in just one of their last four at Selhurst Park.
On the road, the goals have gone both for and against Spurs a few times, but they’ve been involved in their share of low-scoring games, with less than three goals being scored in three of their last five away games. Moreover, they’ve scored more than once in only two of their last six travelling games in the Premier League, and if their weak attacking effort last time out is anything to go by, that record seems unlikely to improve here.
If we look at the xG averages too, then neither team looks like they’ll go crazy in terms of scoring goals here. At home, Palace average only 1.1 xG for, while the visitors have hardly created chance after chance by averaging a modest 1.26 on their travels. So the conclusions of our betting tips verdict for this CPFC vs THFC preview is this selection against the bookies:
- Under 2.5 Goals @ 10/11 with Bet365.
Bradley Gibbs is an experienced football writer. He is an expert analyst on Premier League, and all global football leagues & tournaments, for Just Bookies. Bradley has been published by many respected outlets, including USA Betting and the Racing & Football Outlook. He has also written betting strategy guides.