Tottenham are set to take on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Thursday in what is a must-win clash for the north London side.
With only a four-point buffer over 18th-placed West Ham and ten matches without a win in the Premier League, relegation is a real possibility for Spurs unless they start putting points on the board soon.
New manager Igor Tudor said that Spurs’ loss against Arsenal, in his first match in charge, was not a realistic test of his side against the “best team in the world.” That said, their ensuing 2-1 loss against Fulham may have dented their hopes of staying up.
Against Crystal Palace, they could be presented with an opportunity to get some points on the board against a side just two wins and two places above them in the league table.
Igor Tudor already in trouble?
The spirits and noise around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium ahead of the north London derby were much higher than they had been when Thomas Frank was in charge of the club. There was a feeling around the ground that Spurs’ descent into free fall would be stemmed by the change in manager and new approach.
However, Tudor’s side failed to make the backing of the fans count as they lost 4-1 to league leaders Arsenal in a match that ruthlessly exposed the gulf in quality between the sides.
The Croatian could have been forgiven for that defeat because of how good Arsenal have been this year, but Tottenham fans may not have the same sympathy for their loss against Fulham last weekend.
Although the narrow scoreline against a team seven places above them may not seem like the worst result in the world for a struggling Spurs side, it could, and possibly should, have been much worse.
Former Arsenal man Emile Smith Rowe missed two golden opportunities to put Fulham further clear of Spurs and Richarlison’s goal was Spurs’ only attempt on target in the match.
Spurs will need to show much more than that against Palace to get a much-needed result in their battle to stay in England’s top flight.
Tottenham’s injury issues
Richarlison scored his first goal since coming back from a hamstring injury as defenders Pedro Porro and Kevin Danso both played their first minutes since January in Spurs’ loss to Fulham. However, Spurs’ injury crisis is still ongoing.
Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison, Mohammed Kudus, Destiny Udogie, Rodrigo Bentancur, Ben Davies and Wilson Odobert are all set to miss the Palace clash through injury, while Cristian Romero will also be out serving the last of a four-match suspension for his red card against Manchester United last month.
With all of those players missing and only four days to prepare for the match, it could be tough for them to keep up the same intensity with sides that have much of their first-team squad available.
Despite those issues, Spurs must get three points against Crystal Palace if they hope to be playing in the Premier League next season.
