Improving Tottenham are aiming to make it three wins in a row as they take on a Crystal Palace side who are struggling to find form under new boss Pierre Sage.

BBC Sport takes a look at some of the key themes ahead of Saturday's game (17:30 GMT).

While Tottenham fans entered their match with Coventry two weeks ago quietly optimistic that they would finally collect a first league victory of the season, such is their astonishingly poor record at Chelsea that even the most positive of fans would have wavered over predicting they would make it two wins on the bounce.

But they defied expectation and history in style with a stunning 2-0 victory – only their second at Stamford Bridge since 1990 – that indicated that coach and team are finally in sync and ready to climb the table after such a wretched start.

A pair of wins is only one fewer than they managed across their previous 26 top-flight matches combined and prior to the Coventry fixture they had won a total of just three league games in 2026. But Roberto de Zerbi's side now have the chance to secure a hat-trick of victories for the first time since February 2025, under Ange Postecoglou.

Having recorded what was only a sixth win in 37 home league games in their last outing in front of their own fans, De Zerbi will want to press on and establish the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as a tough place to visit.

Scoring a bit earlier in games wouldn't do any harm either, as six of their eight league goals this season have come in the final 15 minutes of matches and the average minute of their goals scored in is the 74th, the latest of any top-flight side. As a sidenote, those eight goals have all been scored by eight different players, including one from Chelsea keeper Mike Penders.

And another quirky stat to finish, following those wins over Coventry and Chelsea, Tottenham can become the first side to win three in a row against sides all beginning with the same letter since Burnley beat West Ham, West Brom and Watford in March/April 2018.

Tottenham away used to be a trip of trepidation across London for Crystal Palace fans but the tide has certainly turned in recent years.

After nine straight top-flight losses at Spurs they have won on their last two visits, with their 3-1 victory in March particularly impressive.

However, this is a Palace team in a very different spot. Defeat to Newcastle on Sunday was their fifth in just eight league matches under new boss Pierre Sage.

They sit 17th having conceded a top-flight high of 19 goals in eight matches, the second most they have let in at this stage of a top-flight season after 22 in 1980-81.

Of the 24 previous Premier League teams to concede 19 after eight games, 14 went on to be relegated. And another concerning stat is that they have let in at least two goals in 12 of their last 14 top-flight games.

These defensive frailties, though, can't all be put at Sage's feet as they predate the Frenchman's summer arrival. Their tally of conceding 50 goals in 2026 is not only a Premier League high, but it's also six more than they conceded in the whole of 2025 and they still have 10 league matches to play this year.

This loss of form in the top flight has been gradually creeping in. When they beat Fulham on 7 December last year they rose to the heady heights of fourth, but since that date their 17 defeats and 58 goals conceded are both the most by any Premier League club.

Reaching the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup in midweek will have been good for morale, but unless Sage sorts out their league form his Eagles tenure may well be cut short.