Next Saturday, 10th of January 2015, Tottenham will travel to Selhurst Park to measure forces with a rejuvenated Crystal Palace for round 21 of the English Premier League, on a match that will be the first big test for Alan Pardew ever since he took the helm of the Eagles last week and that will also serve for the Spurs to try and close the short one-point gap that separates them from Southampton and from Manchester United.

Crystal Palace haven’t been having an easy season so far and they currently occupy the 18th place of the EPL table. The premature departure of Tony Pulis before the new season’s kick-off left behind an incredible void in the team that his successor, Neil Warnock, failed to complete. The arrival of Alan Pardew on the second day of this new year cannot be seen as a surprise, especially if we have in mind the impressive mark he has made at the club back in his playing days.

The former Newcastle’s boss started off on the right foot after overcoming the modest Dover Athletic by 4-0 on an FA Cup clash last weekend thanks to two goals from Dann, one from Gayle and another one from Doyle.

The upcoming London derby against the Spurs will certainly not be as easy as Pardew’s debut against Dover and if the Eagles want to take something positive out of that match, they will surely need to dig very deep. For that particular clash, the Crystal Palace’s new boss, will probably still not be able to rely on the contribution of McArthur and Chamakh, who remain sidelined due to injury.

As for Spurs, their splendid win over Chelsea on the first day of the new year should have given them enough motivation to easily overcome Burnley for the FA Cup last Monday, but such thing didn’t happen. Tottenham failed to get anything better than a 1-1 draw from the always complicated visit to Turf Moor and they will now only be able to secure a place on the next round of the competition at White Hart Lane after the second leg match.

The Spurs are currently on a seven match run without a single defeat and they are firm favourites for their upcoming clash at Selhurst Park, regardless of the hypothetical extra motivation the Eagles might be enjoying due to the arrival of their new manager.

Crystal Palace

Stats: W-1 L-2 D-2

Recent Form - WLLDD

Tottenham

Stats: W-3 L-0 D-2

Recent Form - DWDWW

Possible Line-ups

Crystal Palace (4-4-2) – Speroni - Ward - Dann - Hageland - Kelly - Jedinak - Zaha - Bannan - Bolasie - Gayle - Campbell

Tottenham (4-4-1-1) - Lloris - Vertonghen - Fazio - Walker - Rose - Bentaleb - Dembele - Townsend - Eriksen - Chadli - Kane

Prediction

Crystal Palace 1 Tottenham 2