Spurs host Crystal Palace on Saturday at 5:30pm (UK) with a chance to win three league games in a row for the first time since February 2025, against a tired Palace side that has won just once in its last five.
The mood in N17 has changed in a week. A 3-1 win over Coventry finally got De Zerbi’s side off the mark, and Saturday’s 2-0 at Stamford Bridge was Spurs’ second league win there since 1990. With seven points from nine, Spurs now sit 14th on nine points. Palace are 17th on seven, have conceded 19 league goals, the most in the division, and Pierre Sage is under real pressure.
Spurs have historically dominated at home against their London neighbors, winning nine of their last 11 league meetings when Palace travel north across the Thames. The two defeats, though, have come in Spurs’ past two disastrous seasons: a 2-0 in May 2025 against a heavily-rotated Spurs side, and a calamitous 3-1 in March during Igor Tudor’s brief reign. Palace had never before won back-to-back league visits to Spurs.
Spurs, having lost to Liverpool in the prior round of the EFL Cup in September and without European football, come into the match much fresher. Palace were at Craven Cottage on Wednesday night, winning 1-0 in the EFL Cup, and Saturday will be their sixth match in 17 days, including Europa League trips to Lyon and Istanbul.
Last season’s meetings: bookends of a collapse
The two meetings last season mark the start and the low point of the run that nearly relegated Spurs.
Crystal Palace 0-1 Spurs, 28 December. Thomas Frank’s side won at Selhurst Park when Palace failed to clear a Pedro Porro corner and 19-year-old Archie Gray scored his first senior goal from close range. It lifted Spurs to 11th and ended 2025 on a high. It was also their last league win under Thomas Frank and the start of a gruesome four months. Spurs went 15 league games without a win between 28 December and 25 April, a run ended only by a win at Wolves thanks to a scruffy Joao Palhinha 82nd minute winner.
Spurs 1-3 Crystal Palace, 5 March. Arguably one of the low points of the 2025-26 campaign. In Igor Tudor’s third match in charge, Dominic Solanke gave Spurs hope with a goal off a corner in the 34′. But four minutes later, Micky van de Ven was sent off inextricably for pulling back Ismaila Sarr in the box. Palace converted the penalty and then scored twice more either side of half-time.
Recent form
Spurs: L L D W W
| Date | Match | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 24 Oct | Chelsea (A) | W 2-0 |
| 19 Oct | Coventry (H) | W 3-1 |
| 10 Oct | Man Utd (A) | D 1-1 |
| 19 Sep | Aston Villa (H) | L 2-3 |
| 15 Sep | Liverpool (A, EFL Cup) | L 1-3 |
Crystal Palace: L L D L W
| Date | Match | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 28 Oct | Fulham (A, EFL Cup) | W 1-0 |
| 25 Oct | Newcastle (H) | L 0-2 |
| 22 Oct | Beşiktaş (A, Europa League) | D 2-2 |
| 18 Oct | Brighton (A) | L 0-5 |
| 15 Oct | Lyon (A, Europa League) | L 2-3 |
Team news
Spurs
- Suspended: Rodrigo Bentancur serves the last game of his three-match ban for a headbutt on Luke Shaw at Old Trafford.
- Out: Sávio (muscle), Xavi Simons and Wilson Odobert (ACL). Mykhailo Mudryk (ankle) has been out since 9 September and is close, but this is likely too soon.
- Doubtful: James Maddison came off early in the second half at Chelsea with a groin problem and is a major doubt; Destiny Udogie (knee), Lucas Bergvall (knee) and Tosin Adarabioyo (calf) could return to the squad.
Crystal Palace
- Out: Chadi Riad, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Quinten Timber.
- Doubtful: Ismaïla Sarr is still struggling with a groin injury, and Jørgen Strand Larsen missed both the Newcastle and Fulham games.
- Back: Dean Henderson returned against Fulham after a foot injury that cost him nine games, and kept a clean sheet. Ben Chilwell and Cheick Doucouré also started; it was Doucouré’s first competitive game for the club since January 2025.
Players to watch
Spurs: Mateus Fernandes. He ran the game at Stamford Bridge, and it was his in-swinging corner that Mike Penders punched into his own net. With Maddison doubtful and Bentancur suspended, more of the creative load and the set-piece delivery falls on him. Spurs will look to Fernandes, likely alongside Tonali & Gallagher, to unpick a Palace side that will likely be happy to sit back and soak up pressure.
Crystal Palace: Yéremy Pino. He shares the lead in chances created in this matchup with Adam Wharton, 12 each, and has scored against Forest and Lyon this month. Palace look most dangerous on the break, and with Sarr an injury doubt, much of that will run through Pino.
Josh’s prediction
Spurs XI: Kinsky; Porro, Van Hecke, Van de Ven, Robertson; Tonali, Fernandes, Gallagher; Marmoush, Solanke, Kudus
Result: Spurs 3 – 1 Crystal Palace
Television: Sky Sports (UK), NBC (US)
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