Preview Panel - Palace

We’ve the perfect panellists on our latest Preview Panel ahead of Sunday’s encounter at Selhurst Park - Dean Austin, who played for both Spurs and Palace in the Premier League between 1992-2002 and Jack Rosser of the London Evening Standard.

Introducing the panel

Dean Austin - A Spurs fan from Hemel Hempstead, Dean joined us from Southend in 1992 and recovered from a broken leg to play 150 times for us in all competitions until moving to Palace in 1998, linking up again with his former Spurs boss, Terry Venables. Since retiring, Dean has enjoyed a successful coaching career with the likes of Northampton, Notts County and three spells at Watford, the latest in the Premier League under Quique Sanchez Flores.

Jack Rosser - Football writer for the London Evening Standard, Jack is perfectly placed to preview Sunday’s encounter - he’s a regular across all press boxes in the capital, keeping a close eye on Palace’s fortunes, and covered our Europa League win against Royal Antwerp on Thursday evening.

Dean Austin

"You’ve two managers who are quite similar in terms of their principles, both try to build off solidity. The onus has to be a little on Palace, but I just think Spurs will have the edge in this game because of their firepower. That’s what it comes down to at the end of the day. Jose Mourinho is very, very good at nullifying the opposition’s strengths and also very, very good at exploiting their weaknesses. I just think with the players Spurs have at the top of the field, that’s why they will come out on top on Sunday. In my era, and remember I’m a Spurs fan at heart, playing with Teddy Sheringham and Jurgen Klinsmann, with Nicky Barmby behind them, they were as good as anyone in terms of firepower in the Premier League. They were up there with Cole/Yorke (United), Shearer/Sutton (Blackburn) and then Ferdinand/Shearer (Newcastle). Those guys were right up there at the top. And, at the moment, I look around and in Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son, Spurs have two of the top five strikers in the world. That’s my opinion, and people can talk about it all day, but my belief is in these two players, you have two of the top five strikers in the world at this moment in time. I don’t care what team you are, if you have those two players, you will win many, many games of football.”

Jack Rosser

“This will be an interesting game, and a different challenge for Spurs. There has been a very clear plan for the last three games (City, Chelsea, Arsenal) and that has worked really well. I believe Palace will expect Spurs to go after them a bit more and they won’t want to leave too much space in behind for that link that has been so effective between Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son. Palace don’t often leave too many gaps, so seeing how Spurs try to pick them apart will be interesting. Tanguy Ndombele looks like he’ll be back and fit, he came off the bench on Thursday night, and he could be really important in trying to prize Palace apart. Palace are quite tight at the back. They haven’t kept too many clean sheets, but at the same they haven’t shipped bags of goals (Palace have conceded 16 in 11 games) and they are also looking sharper going forward, so Spurs will have to be a bit wary. Palace have been great when everyone has been available, particularly Wilf Zaha. Look at the way they played at United on the counter (won 3-1 in September), and the way they exploited Leeds before the international break (4-1 win). The warning signs are there that if Spurs try to press, Palace have the pace with Wilf and Eberechi Eze to exploit them.”