De Zerbi Already Knows Tottenham Starting Lineup Vs Crystal Palace

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Spurs boss could make some changes to his starting XI for the visit of Crystal Palace

Back-to-back wins have been hard to come by for Tottenham Hotspur in recent years, but three wins in a row have been like gold dust.

The last time Spurs won three Premier League games on the spin was in February 2025, when Ange Postecoglou was the manager.

The Lilywhites will have the opportunity to emulate that feat on Saturday though, when they take on Crystal Palace at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Spurs followed up their first win of the season in beating Coventry City, by making it two on the bounce at a place where they had only won once in the Premier League era . Beating Chelsea at Stamford Bridge almost never happens, but Roberto De Zerbi masterminded the result to push Spurs up the table into 14th, knowing a third straight win could see them move into the top half of the table on Saturday night.

Things are suddenly looking up in N17 after a difficult start to the campaign which saw them bottom of the table before last week's win over the Sky Blues.

De Zerbi has had players return to action at the perfect time, with long-term injured Dejan Kulusevski getting cameo minutes into his legs in both of the last two matches, while James Maddison has been able to start both of the wins, going off early in both.

The Englishman did go off injured five minutes into the second period of the win over Chelsea, although he walked out of the stadium in west London without the need for crutches or a protective boot, suggesting the injury may not be as bad as people feared.

> De Zerbi said afterwards: "I think it's not a very important problem. We need to do the medical check tomorrow, after tomorrow, I don't know. I hope it's not a big problem because he's a special player for us. We need him."

There will be a temptation for De Zerbi to go qwith the same starting lineup from the clash with Chelsea when Palace come to north London on Saturday. But, given Maddison's potential injury , the Italian may have to make at least one change, while there are a couple of others he could make too.

Antonin Kinsky will remain in between the sticks for lack of a better option and there could be one change made in the backline that starts in front of him.

Archie Gray has done a magnificent job at right-back and in the midfield against Coventry, but could drop out of the team altogether on Saturday given Pedro Porro has returned to action.

The Spanish World Cup winner got 26 minutes plus injury-time in his legs against Checlsea and should be ready to take his place in the starting lineup.

Jan Paul van Hecke and Micky van de Ven impressed against Chelsea and should keep their places, with Andy Robertson also staying as the left-back choice in the absence of Destiny Udogie.

Tottenham fans finally got to see big-money signings Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes alongside one another in the six and eight, and the player ratings after the Chelsea win showed just how excellent the duo were against the Blues.

Spurs spent £185million on the duo in the summer and they should be the chosen pairing for some time to come, albeit with the likes of Gray, Rodrigo Bentancur (when he returns from suspension) and Lucas Bergvall putting pressure on them for starts.

However, a change ahead of them could see Gray move back into midfield and Fernandes playing slightly higher...

Ahead of them, as we've already mentioned, Maddison could drop out as a result of his injury and not placing too much pressure on him after only just returning to the team.

Fernandes could move forward, to play in the ten, accommodating Gray alongside Tonali, with Bentancur still having one more game of his suspension to serve.

Mathys Tel was excellent against Chelsea and will keep his place on the left, with Mohammed Kudus likely to do the same on the right.

Up front, the striker could be changed. Omar Marmoush missed a glorious chance to score in the first half against the Blues and could be replaced fm the start by Dominic Solanke for the game with Palace.

Tottenham starting lineup vs Palace: Kinsky; Porro, van Hecke, van de Ven, Robertson; Tonali, Gray; Kudus, Fernandes, Tel; Solanke.

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