Selhurst Park will host a London derby with real significance on Sunday, as Crystal Palace welcomes Tottenham on Matchday 18 of the Premier League, with both clubs balancing ambition and pressure. Oliver Glasner’s team, after a strong first half of the season, still has its sights set on European places, sitting just one point behind Sunderland and two ahead of Brighton, while Thomas Frank’s Spurs are four points behind and have so far clearly failed to live up to their own expectations of a place in the top six. The recent past gives Palace additional courage, as they won both league games against Tottenham last season, including a 2-0 victory in north London in May, and have not conceded a goal in either of their two most recent encounters, even though Spurs still lead the overall record since the start of the Premier League era and draws between the two teams have been rare. Both sides still have something to prove, however, with Palace’s painful 4-1 defeat at Leeds and an energy-sapping cup penalty shootout at Arsenal leaving their mark on their league form, and the possible absences of Sarr, Kamada, Muñoz, and Richards threatening further limitations. Tottenham travel with just one win from eight league games, lose Simons and Romero to suspension, and are further weakened by AFCON call-ups.
- Venue: Selhurst Park, London
- Date and time: 12/28/2025, 5:30 p.m.
- Competition: Premier League (Matchday 18)
The tips paint a similar picture, believing Crystal Palace can take advantage of Tottenham’s crisis, but at the same time emphasizing the volatility of this match. With market odds of around 2.2 for Palace and around 3.3 for Spurs and a draw, the value of a home win stems primarily from Palace’s strength at Selhurst Park, their league double from last season, and Tottenham’s injuries and AFCON absences.
Crystal Palace Form & Record Check
Crystal Palace go into this game against Tottenham in a fragile but clearly competitive state, in my opinion. They are eighth in the Premier League with a goal difference of plus two, just one point behind Sunderland and two ahead of Brighton, which is slightly above pre-season expectations for a club juggling its first European campaign, despite a painful 4-1 defeat at Leeds. That defeat at Leeds exposed some worrying trends, with the hosts inferior at set pieces and in challenges and collapsing badly after halftime, a pattern that has intensified recently. They have failed to win the second half in any of their last five games in all competitions, conceding after the break in four of them, and the 3-0 home defeat to Manchester City painted a similar picture, with their organization collapsing under pressure. In cup competitions and in Europe, the picture is slightly more nuanced. They fought back from a goal down to draw 1-1 with Arsenal before losing 8-7 on penalties after Guehi had initially equalized with an own goal, and in the Conference League, they beat Shelbourne 3-0 before drawing 2-2 with KuPS, but their advance to the knockout stage However, their knockout playoff result came after a league phase with only one win in eight games. Glasner’s team remains entertaining but unbalanced, with each of their last five games producing at least two goals, four games producing more than three, and Palace scoring and conceding in four games. Wharton continues to drive their build-up play and defensive work, while Guehi covers for a high-pressing defense, but injuries to Kamada, Muñoz, and Doucouré, plus Sarr’s AFCON absence and Richards’ foot problem, have significantly limited rotation in key positions. Overall, Palace have not collapsed, but the underlying trend suggests a team that could squander a strong starting position. Data from Europe shows that chances are created more often than they are converted, and the defeat to Leeds reinforces concerns about defending set pieces. They are only three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea and one behind Sunderland in the table, but their current form in the league looks more like a slide into the chasing pack than a real push forward.
My predicted Palace starting eleven leaves Oliver Glasner’s familiar 3-4-2-1 unchanged, with Benítez likely to start in goal again, Guéhi marshaling a back three that once again includes Lacroix and Canvot, Clyne and Mitchell operating as aggressive wingbacks, while Wharton and Lerma control the center. In our earlier prediction, Pino and Kamada supported Mateta, providing fluid movement between the lines behind a physically dominant number nine, but current team news makes parts of this framework uncertain. Kamada and Muñoz are listed as injured, Sarr is with Senegal at the AFCON, Richards and Riad are still missing in central defense, and Doucouré is still missing in midfield. This makes Pino even more important between the lines, and it could be that Hughes or Esse take Kamada’s place behind Mateta, with Clyne still a very likely starter at right wingback.
Tottenham Form & Record Check
Tottenham travels to Selhurst Park in poor form. The team is in 14th place with 22 points, just one point behind Fulham and separated from Bournemouth below them only by goal difference, and has won just one of its last eight Premier League games. Recent consecutive defeats to Nottingham Forest and Liverpool underscore that the initial upturn under Thomas Frank has stalled. Results fluctuated wildly throughout December, with a 2-2 draw at Newcastle and a controlled 2-0 home win against Brentford initially suggesting an improvement, and the 3-0 Champions League win against Slavia Praha showing that this team can dominate when its structure is intact. However, this was followed by a poor 3-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest and a chaotic 2-1 home defeat to Liverpool with two costly red cards. Statistically, their games appear open but strangely distributed in terms of timing, with all five of Tottenham’s last games in all competitions ending with at least two goals and 80% going over 2.5, At the same time, 80% of these encounters saw the first half remain under 1.5 goals, while the second half produced at least two goals, suggesting that the team either struggles to get into games or loses control late on. Frank continues to rotate in midfield, relying on teenagers Bergvall and Gray for energy, while regulars Bissouma and Sarr are missing and creative engines Maddison and Kulusevski remain sidelined. Discipline issues with Romero and Simons deprive the team of additional leadership, and an adjusted goal difference model ranks Tottenham only 67th in Europe with a negative value, which fits with reports of flat body language and uncertainty about Frank’s ideas.
Tottenham are expected to line up once again in Thomas Frank’s familiar 4-2-2-2 formation, with my predicted starting XI including Vicario in goal, Porro and Davies at full-back, and van de Ven plus a replacement for the suspended Romero in central defense, most likely Danso. Palhinha and Gray should anchor the midfield, with Kudus and Bergvall operating between the lines behind the strike duo of Richarlison and Kolo Muani. Interestingly, key absences shape this prediction, as Xavi Simons is suspended and Maddison, Kulusevski, Udogie, and Solanke remain sidelined, meaning the creative burden could fall heavily on Kudus and Bergvall, whom Frank trusts as number 10s. Bissouma and Pape Sarr are away at the AFCON, so control in the center is likely to depend heavily on Palhinha’s cover and Gray’s running ability. This remains a predicted lineup and not a confirmed team announcement.
Crystal Palace – Tottenham Head-to-Head Comparison & Statistics
Tottenham lead the last five league meetings with three wins to two, but Crystal Palace have turned the tide recently. Palace defeated Tottenham 1-0 at Selhurst Park in 2024 and followed that up with a 2-0 away win in May 2025, both times without conceding a goal, a significant turnaround after a series of three consecutive Spurs wins, so that the momentum now appears much more balanced. Looking back at 2023 and 2024, Tottenham initially had this fixture well under control, winning 1-0 at home and 2-1 away in 2023 and adding a 3-1 home win in 2024. In those five encounters, Tottenham scored a total of six goals and Palace five, so Spurs still hold a narrow goal advantage, even if the current headline belongs more to Palace’s response. It is also striking how rarely a compromise is found; there has not been a single draw in these five games, each match has produced a winner, and four of the five ended with fewer than four goals. Palace scored in four encounters, while Tottenham only kept a clean sheet once. Even in the phases when they looked superior, Palace usually found a way to remain competitive on the scoreboard. The pace of the games has also been remarkably consistent, with no more than one goal scored before the break in all five encounters, and the game often only opening up after the interval, as was the case in the 3-1 result in 2024. Therefore, there is much to suggest that we will see another cautious start with most of the drama unfolding in the second half.
