By Ian KingSpurs ended the weekend where they startedThe best that can be said about Tottenham Hotspur’s weekend is that at least it didn’t end with them materially any worse off than they started it. They may have put in a fourth consecutive unimpressive shift in losing 2-1 at Fulham, but with Nottingham Forest, West Ham United and Burnley all also losing, they finished it four points above the drop zone, just as they’d started it, with ten games now to play. The bottom of the table prior to Wednesday’s gamesCrystal Palace have been mildly baffling of late. Having lost at home to Burnley and then putting in an unconvincing performance in beating Wolves 1-0, their last outing to Old Trafford to play in-form Manchester United saw them go down 2-1, albeit after a performance from which they might have deserved a point. Although only two positions above their opponents in the table, the six-point gap between the two teams means that Palace are almost certainly already safe for another season. Crystal Palace are the last team that Spurs beat in the Premier LeagueIf there is a cause for optimism amongst Spurs fans ahead of this fixture, it’s that Crystal Palace were the last team that they beat in the Premier League. We’ll gloss over the fact that this came on the 28th December. But there is also a warning for Spurs in the recent past. Palace did the league double over them last season, winning 1-0 at Selhurst Park in December 2024 and 2-0 at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in May, as the home side’s 2024-25 Premier League season gurgled away down the plug-hole. One little historical curio is that these two have played each other in seven different tournaments or league divisions, since their first meeting in 1906. They’ve played each other in both the League Cup and FA Cup, but also in the Premier League, the old First and Second Divisions of the Football League, and both the Southern League and Western League before they joined the Football League.Recent H2H resultsRicharlison is the only Spurs player who really knows what a relegation bunfight is likeOne of the biggest concerns about Spurs’ slide towards the bottom three is that they don’t have players who are used to being in a relegation bunfight, making them particularly ill-equipped to deal with the unique pressures that come with such a struggle. One player who has, however, is Richarlison. Thanks to his time at Everton, he’s certainly been involved in this sort of scrap before. With eight goals, he’s by a long way now their top League goalscorer, and his goal at Fulham last weekend was about the only highlight of an otherwise dismal weekend for the North Londoners. Brennan Johnson scored the goal which won Spurs the Europa League last May, and considering the size of the Tottenham injury list, the haste with which they sold him to Palace at the start of the January transfer window was almost unseemly. Johnson hasn’t scored for Palace in the League yet, despite having made nine appearances for them, so this all feels a bit like a script that is writing itself. Both sides have players missing, but Spurs remain deep in a horrendous injury crisisThe latest Tottenham casualty is Djed Spence, who missed the Fulham match and is unlikely to be ready for this one, either. Otherwise, they remain where they were. Cristian Romero remains suspended, while Wilson Odobert, Destiny Udogie, Lucas Bergvall, Rodrigo Bentancur, Ben Davies, James Maddison, Mohammed Kudus and Dejan Kulusevski all remain out of action.Crystal Palace have four players out with injury, with Eddie Nketiah, Cheick Doucoure, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jefferson Lerma all in various stages of recovery. Maxence Lacroix will also be unavailable to Oliver Glasner. He’s suspended, following his sending-off against Manchester United on Sunday. Spurs’ dismal run of form has to end some time, and Crystal Palace have looked vulnerable at times, this seasonIgor Tudor’s comments after the Fulham match, in which he pointed at the team’s shortcomings in defence, midfield and attack, spoke volumes for the bin fire that Spurs’ season has become. Having an interim head coach sounding so defeated and broken after just two matches in charge of his new team feels like a pretty accurate representation of where the club are, at present. We’re at the point of the law of averages being the most optimistic sign for the home side with regard to their remaining matches. Spurs did beat Crystal Palace earlier in the season, and that’s something to cling onto. There has to be a point at which they win another Premier League match, doesn’t there? Doesn’t there? But Crystal Palace have made recent hard work of matches against other teams near the bottom of the table, and while they played better against Manchester United, they still lost. So I’m going to stick my neck on the line and go for a 1-0 Spurs win. (Cover image from IMAGO)You can follow every game from the Premier League with FotMob this season – featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.