Spurs can briefly extend their lead at the top to five points in Saturday’s early game and Dave Tindall expects them to do so via a win to nil against Crystal Palace…
“Tottenham at nearly Even money looks a decent price on what we’ve seen so far although I prefer the Spurs to win to nil option given Palace’s lack of firepower.”
Palace slowly picking up points
A pre-season poll on which teams might have no points after their first three games would likely have featured Crystal Palace fairly high on the list.
Patrick Vieira was an unproven manager and there were a raft of changes to the squad over the summer.
But after a fairly predictable 3-0 loss to Chelsea on opening weekend, they’ve dug in to claim draws against Brentford (0-0) and, more surprisingly, West Ham (2-2).
Add it up and they’re 14th – their exact finishing position in the last two seasons!
Conor Gallagher’s two goals at the London Stadium rather came out of the blue even though they were superbly taken.
But add in a 1-0 defeat in the EFL Cup to Watford and they’re the only times Palace have found the net in their opening four matches.
Spurs top of the pile
A new manager following another trophy-less campaign, the prospect of Harry Kane leaving and an opening fixture against champions Manchester City left plenty of uncertainty hanging over Spurs as they went into the new campaign.
And yet here we are three games later and Tottenham are top of the pile thanks to the Premier League’s only 100% start.
It hasn’t always been free-flowing but Nuno Espirito Santo has got his team onside and playing winning football.
They head the field courtesy of a trio of 1-0 wins over Man City (home), Wolves (away) and Watford (home).
Tottenham have also beaten Pacos Ferreira 3-0 in the Europa Conference League having lost the first game 1-0 so that’s four clean sheets out of five.
This is the first of three Premier League London derbies ahead of clashes against Chelsea (h) and Arsenal (a).
This has been a good fixture for Tottenham down the years: of the last 12 against Palace, Spurs have won 10 and drawn the other two.
The dominance hasn’t been quite as pronounced at Selhurst Park but they’ve still won seven and drawn three of the last 12.
Tottenham are 1.9420/21 to bank three points while Crystal Palace are 4.77/2. The Draw is 3.55.
Spurs at nearly Even money looks a decent price on what we’ve seen so far although I prefer the Tottenham to win to nil option at 3.052/1.
Given those three 1-0s for Spurs, it’s not the greatest surprise to see Under 2.5 goals as the clear favourite at 1.794/5.
But let’s remember that Overs, which is 2.26/5, has landed in two of Palace’s three games so far.
The filter worth remembering there is that both were on the road and their one home game so far was that goalless draw with Brentford.
It’s also worth noting that this is the early Saturday kick-off so there could be some jaded legs among those who played internationals matches on Wednesday night.
Both teams to Score is a pick ’em at 1.9720/21.
The list of scorers so far for Spurs at home and in Europe reads:
2 Harry Kane, Heung Min Soon
1 Alli, own goal
It’s pretty predictable stuff and Kane would most likely have three had he been about to take the penalty kick that Alli scored against Wolves.
After his brilliant goal for England in Poland, that’s suddenly five in five for Kane so I’ll play him on the Bet Builder.
As I’m expecting a fairly narrow Spurs win and a clean sheet, the bet is Kane to score anytime and Under 2.5 goals at 5.59/2.
That gives us 1-0 and 2-0 and a bit of insurance too if Kane nets in a 1-1 draw.
For in-running players, Spurs have shown they are strong at closing games out when in front so they’d probably be happy to stick rather than twist if reaching 2-0.
Opta Stat
Crystal Palace have managed fewer shots (20) and fewer shots on target (5) than any other team in the Premier League this season. However, the Eagles did score with both of their efforts on target last time out against West Ham.
Source: BetFair Tips
