Tottenham face a tough road trip at Selhurst Park

Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur draw the curtain on round 18 of the 2025/26 Premier League festive fixture at Selhurst Park on Sunday evening.

Palace suffered a humiliating 4-1 defeat at Leeds United in their last Premier League outing. Oliver Glasner’s men were also eliminated from the League Cup after their penalty-shootout loss to Arsenal on Tuesday.

Tottenham endured a 2-1 home defeat to Liverpool after finishing the game with nine men last time out.

Match preview

Crystal Palace did the Premier League double over Tottenham last season, as many victories as they’d managed in their previous 22 against Spurs (D3 L17).

Tottenham lost this exact fixture 1-0 last season; they’ve never lost consecutive away league games against Crystal Palace before.

The Eagles have won their final league game in each of the last four calendar years, never doing so in five in a row before. Indeed, they hadn’t won their final league game in any of the previous nine years before this run (D7 L2).

Spurs lost 1-0 away and 2-0 at home to Crystal Palace in the Premier League last season. It’s the first time in their league history they’ve both lost and failed to score in consecutive league meetings with the Eagles.

Tottenham have only lost their final league game in one of the last 16 calendar years (W8 D7), going down 3-1 at home to Wolves in 2018.

Palace have lost their last two Premier League matches (0-3 v Manchester City and 1-4 v Leeds United) and would equal their longest losing run in the competition under Oliver Glasner with a defeat here (3 games between September and October 2024).

When facing opponents starting the day above them in the table, Tottenham have only won one of their last 19 London derbies away from home in the Premier League (D6 L12), with that lone victory coming against Brentford in February this year (2-0).

Jean-Philippe Mateta has scored 23 goals across his last 31 Premier League starts at Selhurst Park, while he scored the game’s only goal in this exact fixture last season: a 1-0 win for Crystal Palace in October 2024.

If Adam Wharton is named in the starting XI in this game, he’ll have made more Premier League starts for Crystal Palace than any other player while aged 21 or younger (47). His 46 to date are currently the joint-most for the Eagles, along with Michael Olise (46).

Team news

Crystal Palace

Eddie Nketiah and Chris Richards suffered a knock in their League Cup loss to Arsenal but could be in contention for selection.

Daniel Munoz, Cheick Doucoure, Chadi Riad, Daichi Kamada and Caleb Kporha are sidelined with injuries.

Ismaila Sarr is on international duty with Senegal for the Africa Cup of Nations.

Tottenham Hotspur

Xavi Simons was sent off against Liverpool, and he will serve the first of his three-match ban.

Cristian Romero was also sent off against Liverpool, and he misses out.

Dejan Kulusevski, Dominic Solanke, James Maddison, Kota Takai and Destiny Udogie are unavailable due to injuries.

Yves Bissouma and Pape Sarr are away at the AFCON.

Predicted line-ups

Crystal Palace: Henderson, Canvot, Lacroix, Guehi, Clyne, Wharton, Hughes, Mitchell, Pino, Devenny, Mateta.

Tottenham Hotspur: Vicario, Porro, Danso, Van de Ven, Spence, Grey, Bentancur, Kudus, Bergvall, Kolo Muani, Richarlison.