Spurs defender Cristian Romero was already sidelined and remains absent; Crystal Palace will definitely be without James McArthur; follow Spurs vs Crystal Palace in our dedicated live match blog; watch free match highlights on Sky Sports digital platforms and YouTube channel from 5.15pm
Friday 24 December 2021 16:11, UK
Team news, stats and prediction ahead of Tottenham vs Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Boxing Day; kick-off 3pm.
Tottenham manager Antonio Conte has no new injury concerns ahead of Boxing Day's visit of Crystal Palace.
Ryan Sessegnon suffered a muscular problem during Spurs' last Premier League fixture at home to Liverpool on Sunday and will miss out again.
Cristian Romero (hamstring) was already sidelined and remains absent, but Tottenham have a clean bill of health otherwise and no new Covid-19 cases.
Crystal Palace will definitely be without James McArthur for the trip across London due to a hamstring injury.
Nathan Ferguson is another not up to speed after close to two years on the sidelines but he has returned to first-team training recently.
Eagles boss Patrick Vieira revealed during his pre-match press conference the club had experienced "a couple of cases" this week but did not reveal whether it was players or staff at Selhurst Park who had contracted Covid-19.
Follow Tottenham vs Crystal Palace in our dedicated live match blog. Highlights will also be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel from 5.15pm on Boxing Day.
Tottenham's performance in the 2-2 draw with Liverpool was a further piece of evidence that a top-four charge is on the cards this season with Antonio Conte at the helm. In a short space of time he has made them incredibly more efficient in both boxes. That should make them too strong for Palace, who have won just one of their last six Premier League games.
I'm not sure whether it's because he has trouble keeping up with play so misses a lot of key incidents or maybe it's just his smiley demeaner, but referee Jon Moss isn't one for reaching into his pocket this season. He's only awarded 21 yellow cards in 10 Premier League matches this season and six of those came in his last fixture between Manchester City and Wolves.
I can see the argument for low cards in this fixture. Tottenham are defending deeper under Antonio Conte meaning they are a very hard team to construct counter-attacks against. Counters and cards go hand-in-hand. Palace may fall foul up against the Spurs counters but on the whole, this should be a game played in a controlled manner. In 10 of Moss' last 13 Premier League matches the game has produced under 40 booking points and I'd be surprised if this one is any different. Back that scenario at 11/10 with Sky Bet.
SCORE PREDICTION: 2-1
BETTING ANGLE: Under 40 booking points (11/10 with Sky Bet)
