Tottenham vs. Crystal Palace

September 20, 2015 @ White Hart Lane

Tottenham

Tottenham have had a solid week, maybe just enough to ignite the Mauricio Pochetino led Spurs out of their underachieving start to the new campaign. Last weekend, after sputtering for the first 80 minutes, Ryan Mason slipped a clever chip shot past Sunderland’s Costel Pantillimon, giving Spurs a 1-0 lead – a score line that would eventually hold, giving Tottenham its first victory of the season.

Four days later Tottenham’s offense put together its best performance of the season during a 3-1 home victory over Azerbaijani champs Qarabag. Scoring for the Spurs were new signee Son Heung-min and Erik Lamela – two players the Spurs will be counting on this weekend against Palace. While scoring the goal that gave Tottenham its first win of the season, center midfielder Ryan Mason took a knock, seemingly keeping him out for at least this weekend’s matchup. This injury was ill timed, as Mason has been the Spurs offensive catalyst thus far. Joining him on the shelf for the week is fellow holding-midfielder Nabil Benataleb, who too limped off of the pitch last weekend with a lower-body injury. While Mason’s injury is considered minor, Bentaleb will need significant rehab, making him inactive for upwards of a month. With Christian Eriksen and Mousa Dembele already on the bench with injuries, Tottenham will need the aforementioned duo and a few new unheralded faces if they hope to defeat a surging Palace squad.

Crystal Palace

While Tottenham is hoping that their productive week will spark the season, Palace is hoping its disappointing result from last week will not cause the opposite outcome. After going toe-to-toe with league leaders Manchester City for most of the 90 last week, Alan Pardew seemingly ordered his troops to retreat, hold the backline, and preserve the hard-fought nil-nil draw. Well, Kelechi Iheanacho ruined that plan, didn’t he? With a minute eclipsed in extra time, the teenage striker linked up to a Kevin De Bruyne through ball and snuck the ball past the desperate stretch of Alex McCarthy. To add injury to insult, while fighting to preserve the draw, Palace midfield stalwarts Jared Puncheon and Johan Cabaye suffered knocks, making them questionable for this weekend’s matchup.

Injuries notwithstanding, Palace has had a season start that has surpassed even the wildest expectations of Alan Pardew. Through five matches, the Eagles have nine points, putting them at sixth place on the table going into the weekend. Palace has assembled a formidable offensive group, highlighted by the aforementioned duo as well as Wilfried Zaha, Yannick Bolasie, Dwight Gayle, Pape Souare, and emerging superstar – Bakary Sako. The latter of the bunch, Sako, has been the squad’s top player since entering the starting XI in Week Three. The Malian/French International netted goals in consecutive weeks before proving to be a consistent nuisance against City. Even if Puncheon and Cabaye do indeed sit out, Tottenham will have its hands full with the remainder of the Eagles’ high-flying attack.

Fantasy Focus: Tottenham Midfield

The Spurs are struggling to find some offense. Harry Kane, last year’s breakout national hero, is still goalless. Despite his struggles, he remains the Spurs’ only true striker option, after Daniel Levy whiffed on Sadio Berahino during the transfer window. Playing behind him this weekend will be an assembly of midfielders making their Premier League debut as a cohesive unit. With Christian Eriksen, Mousa Dembele, Ryan Mason and Nabil Bentaleb all predicted to miss the game, the Spurs will need to rely on some new faces to drive the offense.

Pochettino will more-than-likely group some five-man combination of Eric Dier, Son Heung-min, Nacer Chadli, Deli Alli, Erik Lamela, Tommy Carroll, and Andros Townsend. With Erik Dier as the only true holding midfielder available, it would not be surprising to see the Spurs abandon their traditional 4-2-3-1 and adopt a traditional 4-4-2 with Chadli joining Harry Kane up front. Look for the crux of the game to fall on the central midfield partnership between Son Heung-min and Dele Alli, if they both indeed get the nod. The two were by far the Spurs’ top offensive performers on Thursday against Qarabag. Tottenham will need more of the same if they hope to clip the wings of the high-flying Eagles.

Prediction: Crystal Palace 1-0 Tottenham; Bakary Sako Man of the Match

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