Alan Shearer thinks Tottenham will beat Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Sunday
Tottenham Hotspur are back in Premier League action on Sunday when they travel across the capital to face Crystal Palace.
The Lilywhites recovered from their 3-2 capitulation to Brighton & Hove Albion with successive wins against West Ham United and AZ Alkmaar after the international break. Ange Postecoglou’s side smashed West Ham 4-1 in the Premier League before edging AZ Alkmaar 1-0 in the Europa League.
Spurs are slowly getting into the groove, and having won seven out of the last eight games in all competitions, they will be heading to Selhurst Park with great belief. Crystal Palace, on the other hand, have struggled this season and are 18th in the Premier League table with just three points from eight games.
Keeping that in mind, former Premier League winner Alan Shearer has dropped his prediction of the game. He feels Tottenham have enough quality to secure all three points in the mouthwatering all-London affair.
“It feels like any game is a big ask for Crystal Palace with the form that they’re in at the moment,” Shearer previewed the game for the Metro.
“They can’t seem to score, the manager is under pressure, and it certainly hasn’t gone as anyone would’ve liked or hoped.
“Tottenham are strong in forward positions, scoring another four last weekend and I think they’ll have enough for Crystal Palace and take the three points at Selhurst Park.”
Oliver Glasner, who impressed at Crystal Palace last season by steering them to a strong finish, has been let down by the board for not replacing key players like Michael Olise and Joachim Andersen in the summer. It is not all doom and gloom for the Eagles as we are only eight games into the new season but Glasner is definitely feeling the pressure from certain sections of fans and media.
As for Spurs, Big Ange and Co. have to give their best on the pitch on Sunday. We cannot afford to be complacent when facing Palace, even though they have been toothless going forward. It is a London derby and form goes out of the window. Plus, Selhurst Park faithful will be right up there with their support, trying to create a difficult atmosphere for the Tottenham players.
Having said that, Big Ange’s side have to take control of the game quickly and try scoring early. Even without our skipper Son Heung-min’s likely absence, we have enough quality in the squad to smash the out-of-sorts Eagles and bag the points.
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Oliver Glasner has confirmed that Jean-Philippe Mateta will start for Crystal Palace against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
The Eagles manager confirmed the news in the embargoed section of his pre-match press conference, with Mateta returning to the starting XI after featuring from the bench in Palace’s last two Premier League matches against Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
Glasner said of Mateta: “I can tell you he will start against Tottenham.
“[Last season] was his highest scoring [season] for Crystal Palace ever [with 19 goals in all competitions] – and then expecting now it’s time for the next record, it’s time for the next record… it’s not too easy.
“I read an interview from Phil Foden. He said so many games had passed, and then the Euros… He’s not in the shape that he has been last year. Many games. And maybe it’s the same with players.
“We have players who are not used to having this programme that they had: end of season, going to a tournament, playing for their country, up to the finals, so I think for everyone it was the first time. And then you have to deal with it, and this is a process. And it’s also one small reason maybe that we don’t have the results that we all would like to have.”
Reflecting more broadly on the team’s confidence ahead of Sunday’s London derby at Selhurst Park, Glasner noted: “I never talk about luck or being lucky or being unlucky. We have to focus on what we can influence, you know, and then just cross our fingers and hope that the next time it’s in. For me, it, this is just my experience I have.
“On the other side now, it’s when you have the good results, you have this confidence, and then it seems like you always have… You’re always the lucky guy. But then it’s the same, you know, you have this mood.
“At the moment, you know, they want it. I see the players after training session, practising finishes and getting this confidence and everything back. And therefore, yeah, we just need it.
“For me, it’s not always black and white. [In April] we were 1-0 down at Fulham, and we had an unbelievable strike from Jeffrey Schlupp. Goal of the Month, yeah? We go 1-1 – ‘ah, what a mentality of the team, and they play so well.’
“So in the 88th minute [against Nottingham Forest], we have a great finish from Jeffrey Schlupp – and an unbelievable save from [goalkeeper Matz] Sels, because he didn’t see the ball. [Ismaila] Sarr was in front of him. This would also have been the 1-1 in the 88th minute.
“[Last season’s run of good results] was the chemistry. It was the spirit. It was the confidence. It was the results. The results helped us to create this flow.
“It’s a process. The same, how to increase your confidence, is a process. And yes, I think it was the start [of the season]: the start was two defeats, and [it was] also how the defeats happened.
“I think at Brentford we also could have won the game, but we didn’t. Against West Ham we had three great chances in the first-half. We missed them all, and then we got punished with two transitions.
“And then you start with two defeats. And then you go to Chelsea. It was the moment players leaving, new players coming in. The group has to find themselves. This was the process, and then we didn’t get the results, and that’s how it happened.”
