Sunday heralds a new season and a new league for Crystal Palace. The long awaited, yet unexpected entry in the Premier League comes after a joyous journey through the Play-offs in the last campaign. This season, a new challenge is afoot, with new target to overcome.
The hotly tipped relegation candidates go into Sunday’s game against Tottenham Hotspur with nothing to lose. Last season, Spurs finished 5th after yet another lacklustre Premier League season which did not produce the hype that a certain TV rights holder tried to produce. In a poor Premier League, Spurs produced some less than impressive displays against teams of same stature of ours. Drawing 2-2 with Wigan and 0-0 with QPR, this shows that they are beatable and lack concentration in spells.
Palace will look for a win. First home game in a new league, a sold out crowd, and the armchair fan’s best tool, Sky Sports. A winning formula this season is to try to keep the togetherness of last season in the squad. This is how we achieve as a club. I hope we do not follow in the same mistakes as 04/05. Dilution of the squad caused a lack of togetherness. This dilution caused us too much heartache in the end, by being relegated on the last day by Charlton. I hope the same outcome does not happen.
Match Details
Time: 1:30pm
Venue: Selhurst Park (Formerly 12Bet Stadium)
TV: Sky Sports 1 (SD/HD) and BBC Match of the Day (Highlights)
Team News
Crystal Palace will be without wingers Jerome Thomas and Yannick Bolasie who are both ruled out injured. In need of a late fitness test, Jose Campana might not be in the matchday XI New signing, Marouane Chamakh is expected to feature at some point. Palace are also expected to line out with Irish defender Damien Delaney partnering recent Welsh call up Danny Gabbidon.
Tottenham will be without star player Gareth Bale. He is currently looking towards his future with a pending transfer to Spanish giants Real Madrid. Younés Kaboul is also expected to be out of action with no match fitness.
Betting
Palace: 4/1 (Betfred)
Draw: 11/4 (Betfred)
Tottenham: 17/20 (BetVictor)
Predictions
If I went with my heart, Palace would win this easily. However, it is not this simple. Most pundits are predicting Tottenham to win big, even in the absence of Gareth Bale.
My prediction is Crystal Palace 2-1 Tottenham. My goalscorers are Chamakh and Gayle for Palace, and Soldado for Spurs.
Let us know your predictions either in the comments below or on twitter (@TheEaglesBeak).
