Ben & Rob's preview - Palace

The Premier League is back, and that means N17 Live presenter Ben Haines and Club commentator Rob Daly are back with Ben & Rob's preview - next up, the early shift at Crystal Palace on Saturday (12.30pm).

Like a London bus...

We return to action with three London derbies this month - Palace away on Saturday, Chelsea at home on 19 September and then the NLD on 26 September...

Ben: "Nuno always wants to look one game at a time but, as fans, it’s difficult to have a month like we’ve got ahead and not get excited about all the fixtures. So, first up, I would love to see Spurs take the game to Palace. If we picked up a convincing win... Spurs v Chelsea at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, in front of a packed house having gone four wins out of four, potentially with four clean sheets, you can’t really ask for a better platform than that."

Rob: "It's a busy month with the Europa Conference League as well. Chelsea look incredibly sharp already. I actually commentated on their season opener against Palace, and they were very convincing, didn't really let Palace get going."

Talking Palace

Ben: "Palace under Patrick Vieira is fascinating, because under Roy Hodgson, they were quite predictable. Vieira is different, and Palace fans want to see a more fluid and attack-minded approach than they had under Hodgson. The issue with that is, do Palace have enough quality to go head to head with teams like Spurs? Arguably, this is the best time in the season to go to Selhurst because Palace haven’t had a chance to settle into Vieira’s playing style. Despite a big turnover in players, a lot of the same faces were in the front six in their last two matches in the Premier League against Brentford and West Ham. Selfishly, I hope Palace go more open and fairly attacking in a 4-3-3 and try to take the game to Spurs, because we have the quality to break them down."

Rob: "Palace are trying to find a new direction, they've signed technical players like Michael Olise and Will Hughes, they want a little more possession. It's not like Vieira is some hugely expansive coach, he is quite pragmatic, but they want more technical quality on the ball and to get the team more possession based. One question is if they've solved their striker problem. Will they give a debut to Odsonne Edouard after his deadline day move from Celtic? Despite Christian Benteke's improvement last season - he scored 10 goals - and the signing of Jean-Philippe Mateta on loan, they've still been looking for a centre forward to take the burden of goalscoring off the likes of Wilfried Zaha. It's also worth keeping an eye out for Conor Gallagher, on loan from Chelsea, he scored two belting goals against West Ham, and it looks like he'll give them a goal threat and drive from central midfield. It's a different Palace, in transition, and Spurs will hope they haven't quite clicked into gear yet."

Selhurst memories

Ben: "Okay, so I’m going to go incredible niche for my Selhurst Park memory, because it’s not actually against Palace, it’s against Wimbledon. February, 1999 - Steffen Iversen scoring a lob over Neil Sullivan in the second leg of the League Cup semi-final to take us to the final which we won against Leicester City. Incredibly special that one. I remember it being a really cold night in February and Sir Les chesting a ball down for Iversen to volley in, and we managed to see out an incredibly cagey game. Also, a huge shout out to Dele’s screamer in 2016!"

Rob: "I'll go for 2018/19 when Juan Foyth scored the winner. He'd had a mad two weeks, a brilliant performance at West Ham in the Carabao Cup, then his first Premier League start at Wolves, where he gave away two penalties in a 3-2 win, and then the winner at Selhurst Park. Not the prettiest, but not a bad first goal for Spurs!"