Venue: Selhurst Park. Date: Sunday, August 18th. Time: 13:30. TV: Sky Sports 1.
Team News
Palace will be missing last season's top scorer Glenn Murray, who is out with a serious knee injury, while Wilfried Zaha has moved to Manchester United following a season in which he was instrumental to Palace's promotion push, so the goalscoring mantle will likely fall to new signing Marouanne Chamakh. Veteran Kevin Phillips, now in his 40th year, will likely start from the bench. Captain Paddy McCarthy is back in training but will not be ready for this match, while Yannick Bolasie is also out injured. New signing Jerome Thomas will miss the game with an ankle injury sustained against Lazio last weekend. The most notable absentee for Spurs will, of course, be Gareth Bale. Andre Villas-Boas confirmed earlier in the week that Welshman will miss this game, the game against Swansea and the Europa League double-header against Dinamo Tblisi through injury. Also missing will be Lewis Holtby, who missed most of pre-season through injury, and Emmanuel Adebayor, following the death of his younger brother. Jan Vertonghen, Younes Kaboul and Sandro will all be analysed closer to kick off following injuries, with the former the least likely to play against Palace after missing the game against Espanyol last weekend. Benoit Assou-Ekotto will likely miss out, as his future looks to be elsewhere. There should be competitive debuts for Roberto Soldado, Paulinho and Nacer Chadli, while Etienne Capoue will likely start from the bench.
Match Preview
Palace will undoubtedly be looking to cause an upset and will be hoping that the Gareth Bale saga has unsettled Spurs. Manager Ian Holloway last took charge of an opening day Premier League game whilst at Blackpool, when his then newly-promoted side memorably trounced Wigan Athletic 4-0 away from home. Palace's last league meeting against Spurs was a 3-0 victory in 2005, though very few people will expect a repeat of this. Spurs want to improve on last season's heartbreaking 5th place finish, when they missed out on 4th by a single point and Andre Villas-Boas will expect a good start. Having spent around £60m in the transfer window so far, Lilywhites fans will be expecting a comfortable victory even without star man Gareth Bale in the squad.
Likely Line-Ups
Crystal Palace: Speroni; Ward, Gabbidon, Delaney, Moxey; Jedinak, Dikgacol, Campana; Gayle, Chamakh, Dobbie.
Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris; Walker, Dawson, Kaboul, Rose; Sandro, Dembele, Paulinho; Chadli, Lennon, Soldado. source -
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