Tottenham Hotspur welcome Crystal Palace to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in a cross-London Boxing Day derby.
If West Ham fail to beat Southampton elsewhere, victory would lift Tottenham up to fifth in the table.
Palace meanwhile can climb to ninth with a win if Leicester lose away to Manchester City.
Team News
Bryan Gil and Dane Scarlett could return for Tottenham if match fit as they continue to rebuild their fitness after recent bouts of Coronavirus.
Ryan Sessegnon (muscle) and Cristian Romero (thigh) remain absent.
Palace could welcome James McArthur back from a hamstring injury which had sidelined the midfielder in recent weeks.
Nathan Ferguson remains absent as he continues to rebuild his match fitness following an Achilles injury.
Stat Attack
- Tottenham are unbeaten in four of their last five meetings against Crystal Palace (W2, D2, L1).
- Palace are winless in their last nine league visits to Tottenham (D2, L7).
- Spurs won their only previous Boxing Day clash against Palace 2-0 at home in 1969 in the Old First Division, en route to 11th whilst the Eagles avoided relegation that season by just one point.
- Tottenham are unbeaten in their last 14 matches held on Boxing Day (W11, D3), since losing 2-0 away at Portsmouth in 2003.
- Palace have lost just one of their last five Boxing Day matches (W1, D3, L1).
Prediction
Since returning from their Coronavirus outbreak, Tottenham have looked much livelier on and off the ball whether it’s on the attack or when defending, of which the latter was certainly evident in the second half of their midweek Carabao Cup win over West Ham.
Palace meanwhile have recently endured a rut but had looked back to their best in their last two games with their usual high energy play and especially in movement, whilst their defence continues to look solid but need to maintain their focus more.
Now if both teams bring their best attacking quality then this should be a cracking contest but given Palace’s poor away form to Spurs, a draw would be a solid bet if the visitors can defend well against a refreshed home team.
Prediction: Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Crystal Palace
Result: Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 Crystal Palace
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