Match snapshot and mood at Selhurst Park
Crystal Palace welcome Tottenham Hotspur to Selhurst Park on 28/12/2025 in what promises to be a tense Premier League fixture. Palace arrive in stronger league standing — eighth with 26 points from 17 games — and a home record that suggests they are dangerous when backed by the crowd in south London. Spurs, 14th with 22 points, head to Selhurst Park searching for consistency after a mixed December that saw them fall 1-2 to Liverpool most recently. The referee named for the fixture is Jarred Gillett, which adds another familiar name into the mix for both coaching staffs to consider when planning set-piece and disciplinary approaches.
Form, recent results and tactical feel
Palace’s recent run is patchy but shows resilience: five wins, one draw and four losses in the latest snapshot, with a cup tie draw against Arsenal ending in penalty heartbreak. Their defensive profile is solid at home — seven clean sheets this season — and they average just over 11.6 total shots per game with a respectable shots-on-target figure. Tottenham, by contrast, have shown attacking promise on occasions (15 away goals this term) but have struggled for consistency, with only three wins in their last ten across competitions and five defeats in that stretch. Spurs also post a higher corners average, suggesting they will press for chances, while Palace’s counter and structured home defensive work could frustrate them.
Head-to-head memory favors Palace too: the most recent league meeting ended 0-2 in Palace’s favor, giving Roy Hodgson’s (or current Palace management in this dataset) side psychological advantage when these two meet in London. Both teams have shown matches that trend toward goals — Tottenham tilt toward over 2.5 in their fixtures at a higher rate — but Palace’s tendency to keep clean sheets at home tempers expectations of a high-scoring rout.
Betting context and market interpretation
Bookmakers give Palace the edge at 2.26 for a home win, with the draw at 3.30 and Tottenham 3.20. Those odds underline a value proposition on Palace: a combination of home solidity, recent direct success, and Tottenham’s inconsistent December form. The statistical split on goals sees both teams producing over 2.5 on many occasions, but Palace’s seven clean sheets and slightly better form make a single-outcome play more attractive than an open, high-scoring market.
For readers wanting to sharpen their approach to goal markets, consider reading The right time to place bets on goal markets, and if you’re managing stake sizes this season the primer How to set values for sports betting and how to start creating a bankroll is a useful companion to any market decision.
Betting suggestion Crystal Palace to win (1X2). The home advantage at Selhurst Park, Palace’s recent head-to-head success against Tottenham, and the bookmaker pricing at 2.26 create a clear, evidence-backed bet: back Palace to take three points, while keeping stakes sensible given the unpredictable nature of December fixtures.
