Tottenham vs Crystal Palace prediction, team news and preview

Tottenham vs Crystal Palace: what the match decides

Tottenham host Crystal Palace at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday 31 October 2026 in round 9 of the Premier League. Our lean is a narrow home win in a match that should produce goals, and the numbers below explain why.

Neither side is where it wants to be. Tottenham are 14th with 9 points from 8 games (two wins, three draws, three defeats, 8 scored and 10 conceded), while Palace are 17th with 7 points from 8 (two wins, one draw, five defeats, 9 scored and 19 conceded). Manchester City lead the table on 21 points, so both clubs are looking down the table rather than up it.

What the match decides is a small but real swing in the bottom half. A Tottenham win would take them to 12 points, a Palace win would lift the visitors to 10 and one point above Tottenham's current tally, and a draw would leave the gap at one point in Spurs' favour.

Momentum also points one way. Tottenham have won their last two, against Coventry and at Chelsea. Palace have lost their last two Premier League games, 5-0 at Brighton and 2-0 at home to Newcastle, before a 1-0 League Cup win at Fulham on 28 October.

Tottenham and Palace form: goals, defences and venues

Across all competitions, Tottenham's last five games read lost, lost, drawn, won, won. That is two wins, one draw and two defeats, with 9 goals scored (1.8 per game) and 8 conceded (1.6 per game). They kept one clean sheet, failed to score in none of the five, and both teams scored in four of them. Three of the five went over 2.5 goals.

The sequence tells a story of recovery. Spurs lost 3-1 at Liverpool in the League Cup and 3-2 at home to Aston Villa, then drew 1-1 at Manchester United, beat Coventry 3-1 and won 2-0 at Chelsea on 24 October. That Chelsea result is their clean sheet in the sample.

At home, Tottenham's two games in the sample brought one win and one defeat, with 5 goals scored (2.5 per game) and 4 conceded (2.0 per game). Both went over 2.5 goals and both saw both teams score. They are creating chances and scoring in front of their own supporters, but not keeping opponents out.

Palace's last five are lost, lost, drawn, lost, won. They have won one, drawn one and lost three, scoring 5 (1.0 per game) and conceding 12 (2.4 per game). They have failed to score twice, kept one clean sheet and seen three of five games go over 2.5 goals.

On the road, Palace have played four games in the sample: one win, one draw and two defeats, with 5 scored (1.25 per game) and 10 conceded (2.5 per game). They kept one clean sheet away and failed to score once. The sample includes 3-2 and 2-2 results in the UEFA Europa League at Lyon and Beşiktaş, so the workload has been heavy as well as the results poor.

Tottenham vs Crystal Palace team news

Tottenham have the longer list. Four players are out: R. Bentancur (red card), M. Mudryk (ankle injury), W. Odobert (knee injury) and X. Simons (knee injury). Three more are doubtful: T. Adarabioyo (calf injury), L. Bergvall (knee injury) and J. Maddison (groin injury).

The doubts matter as much as the confirmed absences. Seven names across the out and doubtful lists is a lot for one squad, and if all three doubtful players fail fitness checks, Spurs would be without seven players. Bentancur's absence follows a red card, so unlike the injuries it is not a fitness question, and the club will know the outcome well before the game.

Palace have two players out: C. Riad (knee injury) and T. Tomiyasu (calf injury). Three are doubtful: J. Larsen (ankle injury), I. Sarr (groin injury) and Q. Timber (hamstring injury). With a side already conceding 2.4 goals per game over the last five, any further disruption is unwelcome.

No line-ups are published in our data yet. They are confirmed about an hour before kick-off, and the availability of the doubtful players on both sides is the main thing to check then.

Tottenham vs Crystal Palace storylines

For Tottenham, the story is a team finding its feet after a poor spell. Two defeats in mid-September, to Liverpool and Aston Villa, were followed by a draw at Manchester United and then wins over Coventry and at Chelsea. Their 9 points from 8 games is modest, but the recent run has pulled them away from the worst of the table.

The form string in the standings, WWDLD, supports the idea of a side that is difficult to beat without being consistent. A third straight win would also be their first such run in the sample, and it would arrive against a team in worse shape.

For Crystal Palace, the picture is harder. Their goal difference of minus 10 is the clearest warning sign, built largely on conceding 19 goals in 8 league games. The 5-0 defeat at Brighton on 18 October is the heaviest single result in either side's recent form.

There are positives. Palace won 1-0 at Fulham in the League Cup on 28 October and kept a clean sheet, which is only the second in their last five. They also drew 2-2 at Beşiktaş in Europe. Whether that midweek win is a turning point or a one-off against lower-pressure opposition is the question this game can start to answer.

Key battles: where Tottenham vs Palace will be decided

The central contest is Tottenham's home attack against Palace's away defence. Spurs have scored 2.5 goals per game at home in the sample, and Palace have conceded 2.5 per game on their travels. When two numbers match like that, the model edge sits with the side that has the more reliable source of chances.

The second battle runs the other way, and it is where Palace's hopes lie. Tottenham have conceded 2.0 goals per game at home and 1.6 per game across their last five, so they do give opportunities. The difficulty for Palace is that they score only 1.0 per game, and they failed to score in two of their last five.

Game state will matter. Palace's 5-0 and 2-0 league defeats were both heavy, and a goal conceded early could push them to open up and invite more damage. Tottenham, in contrast, have scored in every one of their last five games, so an early lead would not be an unusual outcome.

Freshness is a minor factor. Palace played at Fulham on 28 October, three days before this game and after a run of away trips in Europe and the league. Tottenham's last game in our data was at Chelsea on 24 October. Our data has no set-piece figures, so we do not lean on dead-ball analysis here.

Tottenham vs Crystal Palace head-to-head

The six Premier League meetings in our data, dating back to October 2023, are perfectly balanced: three wins for Tottenham, three for Palace and no draws. Those games produced 15 goals, or 2.5 per game. Both teams scored in three of them, and three went over 2.5 goals.

This fixture has not favoured the home side. Palace won 3-1 at Tottenham on 5 March 2026 and 2-0 there on 11 May 2025, while Tottenham's only home win in the sample was 3-1 on 2 March 2024. Across the six games the away side won four.

Tottenham won the most recent trip to Selhurst Park, 1-0 on 28 December 2025, after Palace had won 1-0 at home in October 2024. Tottenham also won 2-1 there in October 2023.

Head-to-head records are a weak guide when form, squads and circumstances change, and these meetings are from a different season. The useful takeaway is that low-scoring wins and open games have both happened, and neither side has been able to take the result for granted.

Tottenham vs Crystal Palace prediction

Our lean is a Tottenham win, probably by a single goal, though this is a lean rather than a certainty. Three facts drive it: Spurs score 2.5 goals per game at home, Palace concede 2.5 per game away, and Tottenham arrive with two wins while Palace have lost three of their last five.

On goals, the lean is towards over 2.5. Tottenham's home games have both gone over 2.5 and both seen both teams score, Palace's away games have gone over 2.5 in three of four, and the last three meetings between these sides in Tottenham's home fixtures include a 3-1 and a 3-1. The caution is that Palace have failed to score in two of their last five, so a 2-0 or 3-0 home win is a realistic alternative to a 2-1.

Several things could change this read. Tottenham's seven out or doubtful players could weaken the home side, particularly if the doubts all turn into absences. A Palace side that gets key players back and carries the confidence of the Fulham clean sheet could also be harder to break down than recent numbers suggest.

The head-to-head record is a reason not to be too confident: Palace have won two of the three meetings at this ground. Still, form and the defensive numbers point to the home side. MATCH PULSE's three AI engines (GPT, Claude and Gemini) publish their independent analysis of the match before kick-off.

How to watch Tottenham vs Crystal Palace

The match is played on Saturday 31 October 2026 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Our data lists no broadcaster for the United Kingdom, so UK readers should check the Premier League's official broadcast partner in their country and its official app.

Elsewhere, the listed official broadcasters include NBC, Telemundo and USA Network in the United States, fuboTV in Canada, Stan Sport in Australia, Sky Sport in New Zealand, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy, and Canal+ in France. In Ireland you can look to Premier Sports, Sky Sports and TNT Sports, and in Spain to DAZN and Movistar Plus+.

Further listings include Viaplay and Prime Video in the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, ESPN across much of Latin America and the Caribbean (plus CazéTV in Brazil), Star Sports in India, and beIN Sports across much of the Middle East and North Africa. SuperSport covers South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and many other African markets, with SABC Sport in South Africa and SportyTV in Nigeria and Kenya also listed.

If your country is not named here, check the Premier League's official broadcast partner for your territory. Use only licensed services.

Only official rights holders are listed; availability can change. Watching through unofficial streams is unsafe and unfair to the clubs.

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