Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Crystal Palace

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Wednesday 26th April 8pm
Premier League
Selhurst Park​

Another glorious failure in an FA Cup semi-final, so we're down to our last chance of a trophy.
It would be an amazing feat, but overturning Chelsea's lead looks rather unlikely.
Have the players learned anything from last season's disastrous run-in or will we repeat it?
Is their confidence crushed or can they bounce back and do something special?

Sam Allardyce has managed his own remarkable turnaround with our hosts.
Alan Pardew's bizarre calendar year roller coaster form was in it's latest dip, so out he went.
In came the big bloke with a talent for avoiding relegation and that's exactly what he's done.
It took a while to get going, as new signings adapted and his methods took hold, but they look safe.
The last month has seen them peak, with wins over Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool, plus a draw with resurgent Leicester.

How did he change things? Allardyce-ball, to put it simply.
Direct counter-attacking football is the order of the day and organisation is king.
Stay solid and compact, make every set-piece count and hit quickly and lethally on the break.
It may not be the most attractive game around, but it's effective and it earned him a shot as England manager.
Just the one shot, mind...

Last season's visit to Selhurst Park was a memorable one, mainly for one very special finish.
It was a rather one-sided affair, but Palace took the lead via a rather fortunate Vertonghen own goal.

Harry Kane leveled things up with a nice header at the far post, then Dele Alli did this:

Just to put the icing on the cake, Nacer Chadli added a third at the death:

Their visit to the Lane earlier in the campaign didn't contain anything quite as exciting, unfortunately.
Our slow early start seemed to struggle to overcome Palace's stern resistance.
Things remained level and on a knife edge until very late on, when Victor Wanyama stole the points.
I don't think he's looked backed since, though he's barely added anything to his scoring tally:



Neither side has any suspensions for this one, but both will be missing players.
Winks, Lamela, Vorm, Carter-Vickers and Rose all miss out for us, though the last is back in training.
Tomkins, Wickham and Souare are absent for them, while Benteke and Remy face late tests.

Lineups for each side's last league game:

Spurs: Lloris; Walker, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Davies; Dier, Dembele; Eriksen, Alli, Son; Kane.
Subs: Lopez, Trippier, Wimmer, Wanyama, Onomah, Sissoko, Janssen.
League form: WWWWWW.

Palace: Hennessey; Ward, Kelly, Tomkins, Schlupp; Milivojevic; Zaha, Cabaye, Puncheon, Townsend; Benteke.
Subs: Speroni, Delaney, Van Aanholt, McArthur, Flamini, Sako, Campbell.
League form: WWLWDW.

Referee: Jonathan Moss.

TV: Sky Sports 1.

Should we stick with the 3 at the back for this one or switch back to the 4 that was used in previous matches?
Do we need to rotate any players for this or does anyone need to be dropped?
Are there any tactical changes that we need to make to deal with Palace's style of play?

 

Paul Stewart

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As long as feckn' Flamini doesn't score will probably make my night, as I have a horrible feeling we will come up short tomorrow!!
Don't know why we didn't rely on the tried and trusted formation of the last 2 months in the SF. We are one of the 2 best teams in the PL and with best respects to Palace we shouldn't be adapting OUR game to play them...... if they outplay us then good luck to them.
Very much all or nothing. If things go well over the next 5 days we could be 1 point off the top. However, I fear it might be 10.
COYS!!!

 

Love him or hate him, nobody can deny Sam Allardyce has got Palace playing. And it's their flair players who are doing the business.
But their win at Liverpool means that they are effectively safe so I can't see them playing with the same urgency and intensity.
They can be vulnerable at the back.
I think Spurs should win 2-1.

 

I'm very nervous about this game.

But this isn't about attempting to overhaul Chelsea. This ought to be about consolidating second in the league.

Spurs need to finish the season strongly because next season at Wembley could be messy!

 

Rose's reaction to that Alli goal was quite something. Only one camera angle caught it. Sheer disbelief.

 

Must win. Or the final 5 games are going to be awful watching a team who have given up.

 

Have to win...Poch sacrificed our strongest team in the semi final for this...so yes we have to win...or we are cracking at the wrong time again and Poch has not learned from last season..that's just me warming up

 

Palace have been no joke lately, beaten Pool and Chelsea in both sides back yards along with giving Arsenal a brutal, no lubed anal experience at Selhurst.
It's a must win for us but it'll be tough.
Because of the decision to rest Walker and Davies in the semi, a lot of pressure is on Poch and the players to deliver tonight but I wouldn't be overly surprised if we only manage a draw due to the form they're in.

I'm going tonight though, was there last season and right in line with Alli for his goal so here's hoping he repeats that magic for me!

 

''make every set-piece count''

Hmmmmm

 

Must be something about Palace, Rose loves a reaction against them:

 

Can see the wheels coming off this week...Palace, Arsenal and West Ham are all capable of beating us.
That'll lead to yet more Eriksen, Kane, Dele, Lloris, Walker, Rose and Toby leaving stories.
Tin hats on and avoid the media time

 

At least we get to keep Vertonghen, Dier, Wanyama and Dembele

 

Dier without Alli would be a heartbroken shell

 

There you go again with your glass half full crap

 

Yeah, west ham in particular could be a very taxing game.

 

We should be afraud, very afraud!!

 

Should be able to answer that one around 10pm

 

This game could be postponed (in order to allow them time to get their
employers PAYERTI paperwork sorted before the 2nd week in May) .