Tottenham Hotspur will be looking to keep hold of top spot in the Premier League come the end of the weekend as they make the trip to London rivals Crystal Palace.
Spurs enter matchday 11 in first place, level on points with reigning champions Liverpool and two in front of Chelsea, following a run of 10 top-flight games without defeat.
Palace head into Sunday's match at Selhurst Park on the back of a morale-boosting 5-1 win over West Bromwich Albion last time out, a win that moved them up to 11th place.
Match preview
© Reuters
As the season enters the festive period, Tottenham can be delighted with their campaign to date on multiple fronts.
The Lilywhites have an EFL Cup quarter-final trip to Stoke City on the horizon, are through to the knockout stages of the Europa League and are top of the Premier League.
There is no doubt that finishing top of the domestic league for the first time since 1961 is the top priority for Spurs fans, but any sort of silverware would be appreciated.
Spurs kept their momentum going with a 2-0 win over Royal Antwerp in the Europa League on Thursday, picking up the win needed to finish above their opponents at the top of Group J.
That ensures Tottenham will be among the seeded sides at Monday's last-32 draw, though Mourinho will happily put that competition to one side until its resumption in February.
For now the Premier League is all that counts, and Spurs find themselves in a very strong position thanks to a return of 24 points from 30 since losing to Everton on matchday one.
Last week's 2-0 win over Arsenal followed a victory by the same scoreline against Manchester City and another clean sheet in a stalemate with Chelsea.
© Reuters
Spurs have proved they are capable of mixing it with the division's elite, and now they have a chance to stay in front of Liverpool ahead of next week's showdown between the sides.
That will be a truly massive game, but Mourinho's men cannot take their eye off the ball this weekend, even if Palace have had an up-and-down campaign to date.
The Eagles were given a helping hand by Matheus Pereira's sending-off in last week's big win over West Brom, that victory following defeats to Burnley and Newcastle United.
Roy Hodgson's side failed to register in those two losses, though they did put four past Leeds United and five past the Baggies.
To put that into some context, they managed to score four or more goals in just three of their first 117 games under Hodgson.
However, Tottenham have kept a clean sheet in eight of their last 10 Premier League meetings with Palace and are unbeaten in 10 in this fixture, winning nine of those.
Crystal Palace Premier League form: WLWLLW
Tottenham Hotspur Premier League form: WWWWDW
Tottenham Hotspur form (all competitions): WWDDWW
Team News
© Reuters
Mourinho made nine changes to Tottenham's starting lineup for the game with Antwerp - Sergio Reguilon and star man Giovani Lo Celso the only two to retain their places in the side.
However, with the game still finely poised with an hour played, Mourinho turned to Harry Kane and Son Heung-min to help Spurs complete the job.
Tanguy Ndombele was also introduced, having been forced out of the North London derby with a minor issue, leaving Serge Aurier and Erik Lamela as Tottenham's only fitness concerns.
Kane is certain to lead the line as he looks to build on an incredible return of 20 goals and 11 assists in 29 Premier League appearances under Mourinho.
As for Palace, they will be without injured quarter Connor Wickham, Martin Kelly, Wayne Hennessey and Nathan Ferguson.
Luka Milivojevic was handed just a third league start of the campaign last time out and, given the result against West Brom, he looks likely to stay in central midfield.
Christian Benteke scored twice in that match, the Belgian matching his tally from his previous 31 top-flight appearances.
Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:
Guaita; Clyne, Kouyate, Cahill, Van Aanholt; Schlupp, Milivojevic, McArthur, Eze; Zaha, Benteke
Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:
Lloris; Aurier, Alderweireld, Dier, Reguilon; Sissoko, Hojbjerg Bergwijn, Ndombele, Son; Kane
We say: Crystal Palace 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur
Spurs are unbeaten in eight away league matches since early July, winning five of those and keeping a clean sheet in each of the last three.
Palace returned to winning ways last time out but they tend to struggle in this fixture and we are going with a routine Spurs win.
Top betting tip
Video prediction
Watch the Sports Mole Football Shorts prediction for this game below:
Daniel Lewis
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Tottenham Hotspur win with a probability of 59.25%. A draw had a probability of 22.3% and a win for Crystal Palace had a probability of 18.41%.
The most likely scoreline for a Tottenham Hotspur win was 0-1 with a probability of 11.42%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (10.63%) and 1-2 (9.88%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.62%), while for a Crystal Palace win it was 1-0 (5.71%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 10.6% likelihood.
