Spurs v Palace - the stats

Ahead of this evening’s Premier League encounter with Crystal Palace (7.15pm kick-off), we take a look at the key numbers behind the game.

11 unbeaten against Palace

We come into this game on a very strong run of form against Crystal Palace in the Premier League having not lost any of our last 11 meetings with the south London side in the competition (W9 D2) - our longest ongoing unbeaten run against any team in the division. At home, that unbeaten run extends back to November, 1997, as, over the last 23 years, we have gone eight league meetings on our own turf without defeat against the men from Selhurst Park (W6 D2) - we have won each of the last five.

That run of form against the Eagles has largely been due to our defensive record against them as in each of the last seven fixtures that we have hosted Palace, they have failed to score - Andy Johnson was the last player to score a league goal for the south London side in N17, back in December, 2004. Since they returned to the top flight in 2013, we have kept 11 clean sheets in 15 matches against them.

Roy Hodgson, meanwhile, has not beaten us in a Premier League match since November, 2008, when he was in charge of Fulham. That remains his only win against us in 18 attempts in the competition to date. Jose Mourinho remains unbeaten against Hodgson after five meetings between the pair in the Premier League (W2 D3) - so far, both of his games against Palace as our Head Coach have ended 1-1 with each match playing out almost identically, Harry Kane opening the scoring in the first half and Jeffrey Schlupp equalising for Palace in the second.

London’s calling

After Thursday evening’s 1-0 win at Fulham, we will be looking to make it back-to-back victories in Premier League London derbies for the first time since July, 2020, when we defeated West Ham United 2-0 and then Arsenal 2-1. We will also be looking to win our first home capital clash in the league since we triumphed over the Gunners in December (2-0). Crystal Palace, meanwhile, are winless in each of their last five London derbies in the league (L1 D4) - their worst run in such games since the 2017/18 season when they went seven without victory.

Home and away

They might have defeated Brighton 2-1 at the Amex in their last match on the road in the Premier League but, so far this season, Crystal Palace are still yet to win back-to-back away games. In fact, they haven’t managed to do so in nine months since defeating Brighton (1-0) in February, 2020, and then Bournemouth (2-0) in June, 2020. Despite that, the majority of their nine victories so far in the Premier League this season have come away from Selhurst Park (5).

In recent weeks though, Palace have been goal shy on the road. Since scoring five at West Brom in an impressive 5-1 win back in December, the Eagles have scored just five times across their last seven away games. That return of just 0.71 goals per game (gpg) could be attributed to the drop in the number of shots the south London side are attempting in matches. Compared to their first nine games of the season where they averaged 12.1 shots per game, over their last four fixtures, they have averaged just 4.8 shots per game. Defensively, they have also struggled so far on the road having earned just one clean sheet in their 13 outings to date - although that shutout did come in north London as they earned a 0-0 draw at Arsenal in January.

Meanwhile, we are currently on a run of back-to-back home Premier League wins and clean sheets following recent victories over West Brom (2-0) and Burnley (4-0). The last time we won three home league games in a row was between November and December as we defeated Brighton (2-1), Manchester City (2-0) and Arsenal (2-0). For the last time we won three home games on the trot without conceding though, you would would have to look back to April, 2019, when we first moved into Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as we defeated Crystal Palace (2-0), Huddersfield Town (4-0) and Brighton and Hove Albion (1-0). We are also on a run of 16 Premier League home games unbeaten against sides starting the day in the bottom half of the table (W12 D4).

Kane’s Sunday service

Harry Kane has scored more goals on a Sunday than any other Premier League player this season with 12 goals in 16 games. In the competition’s history, only six players have scored more on a Sunday in a single season than that - Wayne Rooney has recorded the most in a sole campaign with 17 in 2011/12.

Harry though has never scored in a home league fixture against Crystal Palace. Despite having scored five times against the Eagles in the competition, all of his strikes to date have come at Selhurst Park. Only two players in Premier League history have scored more away goals against a single opponent without scoring in the home fixture – Jamie Vardy and Michael Owen (6 - both versus West Brom).

Sonny soaring against the Eagles

Heung-Min Son has been directly involved in six goals in his seven Premier League starts against Crystal Palace, scoring five and assisting once. Only against Southampton (8) has he scored more Premier League goals than versus Palace (5) - and that is largely due to his remarkable four-goal haul against the Saints earlier this season. In our last five home wins over Palace, Sonny has scored in four of them, including the winner in 1-0 victories on two occasions.