Tottenham Will be Furious About Crystal Palace Decision in West Ham Relegation Fight

Tottenham Will be Furious About Crystal Palace Decision in West Ham Relegation Fight

Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United, and Nottingham Forest are currently embroiled in a tense fight to avoid relegation. Among the three, Spurs are especially likely to be frustrated by a recent decision made by Crystal Palace.

Heading into the weekend’s matches, Tottenham trail West Ham by two points and Nottingham Forest by three. To stand any chance of climbing out of the bottom three, they must beat Brighton & Hove Albion at home on Saturday evening.

New manager Roberto De Zerbi will need to guide Spurs to their first Premier League win since their 1–0 victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on December 28.

Forest, unbeaten in four games, host 19th-placed Burnley at the City Ground, while Nuno Espírito Santo’s West Ham travel to face Palace on Monday night.

Crystal Palace, sitting on 42 points, appear destined for a mid-to-lower table finish. Their focus has now shifted entirely to the Europa Conference League, having reached the semi-finals by defeating Fiorentina over two legs.

Why Tottenham Will Be Furious with Palace’s Decision
Despite losing 2–1 to Fiorentina on Thursday, Palace advanced to the Conference League semi-finals 4–2 on aggregate, where they’ll face Shakhtar Donetsk. After the match, manager Oliver Glasner confirmed the players were allowed to go out in Florence to celebrate reaching the final four. Footage of the night out has since surfaced—and it’s unlikely to sit well with anyone connected to Tottenham.

While Spurs have only themselves to blame for their league position, they would still prefer that their relegation rivals face opponents who are fully focused and in top form. With Palace celebrating late into Thursday night and prioritizing European success, West Ham will likely see a golden opportunity to take all three points back to the London Stadium on Monday—potentially dealing a major blow to Tottenham’s survival hopes.

Who Has the Easiest Run-In?
On paper, none of the three have an easy path, but Tottenham’s fixture list looks the most favorable—if only they had some momentum.

After hosting Brighton, Spurs face bottom-placed Wolves and top-four chasing Aston Villa away, then host Leeds and Everton with a trip to Chelsea in between. Though Wolves are last, they’ve shown decent form recently and may be motivated to drag Spurs down into the Championship with them.

Forest, meanwhile, must balance a two-legged Europa League semi-final against Aston Villa with league games against Sunderland, Chelsea, Newcastle, Manchester United, and Bournemouth.

Finally, following their trip to Selhurst Park, West Ham will host Arsenal, Everton, and then Leeds on the final day, with away matches against Brentford and Newcastle in between.