This week’s game between Crystal Palace and Tottenham at White Hart Lane sees a meeting of two sides who are riddled with injuries to key players.
For Palace the main injury concerns are for central defender and captain Damien Delaney and right back Joel Ward, who have been key to the good defensive start that Palace have made. Luckily, Alan Pardew has a set of competent replacements in Brede Hangeland and Martin Kelly; both did a good job filling in against Manchester City last time out.
There is another, more frustratingly familiar issue: Marouane Chamakh is again battling injury, and is yet to make an appearance this season after only making 15 appearances last year. Pardew has said that Chamakh will miss at least another month of football. “Chamakh has an abductor injury and will be out for another three weeks at least, I think,” Pardew said.
This is an unfortunate turn because the Moroccan attacker would be, given his traits, suited perfectly to the style that Palace have been playing so far this season. Pardew is constantly looking to populate his wings with pacey, muscular dribblers. Chamakh likes to flick and lay-off balls as a back-to-goal target man, and would be a useful catalyst to further activate the likes of Jason Puncheon, Yannick Bolasie and Wilfried Zaha.
Of course, Palace have hardly struggled without Chamakh; his injury has seen Palace move to a highly potent strike force, moving the effervescent Yannick Bolasie into the striker’s position, leading an attacking front four of Puncheon, Bolasie, Bakary Sako and Zaha. This unit showed some frightening pace and power against Manchester City, even if they where unable to finish off the opportunities they created.
Tottenham have issues of their own, problems related not only to injury, but also with regards to, as it were, getting the ball into the back of the net. They have only scored four league goals, and none of those have been the work of England striker Harry Kane. Even in light of his goal-shyness, Kane is apparently unfazed:
“I would not call it a drought,” Kane said “Everyone else probably will but I know goals will come. Scoring for England against Switzerland was a great confidence booster and I’m not worried at all.”
[interaction id=”55fa8270f94584352d0bffa0″]
Another misfiring forward for Tottenham is Erik Lamela. Tottenham were about to offload him to Marseille on deadline day but when the Saido Berahino deal fell through, Mauricio Pochettino blocked the Lamela deal. He has subsequently said that this is a key season for Lamela, a player who was at one point touted as “the new Messi”.
“After two seasons at Tottenham, now is the moment for him,” the Tottenham boss said. “Not to put pressure but it’s true, it’s a key moment for him to develop and move on his game.
“We believe we can develop his game and I think we need to be patient with him. We want to give him an opportunity to show his value.”
With the injury issues that Tottenham are currently suffering through, even more pressure has been piled on Kane to shoulder the scoring burden. Spurs’ last goalscorer, Ryan Mason, chipped in the winner against Sunderland last weekend, but picked up a harsh knock in the act of scoring. He had to be stretchered off with a knee issue that looks likely to see him miss the game against Palace.
Moussa Dembele may potentially return from a foot injury this weekend, so too Christian Eriksen from a knee complaint. If both these players are involved, the likelihood of Tottenham clicking in attack increases dramatically.
This match-up will be another stern examination for Palace. Currently sitting in 6th position, Pardew’s team will be testing themselves against an opponent who they could be fighting with to secure a possible place in the Europa League next season. If a top six finish could be secured, it would be a stunning turnaround from the position that Palace found themselves in this time last year.
Given the poor start that Tottenham have had to the season, now sitting in 12th position with only one win to their name, the visiting Eagles might even be considered slight favourites here. Pochettino is still attempting to rebuild his squad, shifting out deadwood and blooding in young talent. He’ll have to be well prepared to wrestle a result out of this flying Palace side.
What are your thoughts? Let us know by dropping a comment below via our Facebook comment box. Make sure you follow us on Twitter @Outside90and like us on Facebook.
