Tottenham Hotspur vs. Crystal Palace team news: Eriksen, Mason could feature

Team news is out for Sunday's match against Crystal Palace, and it's marginally good. According to the club website, Christian Eriksen and Ryan Mason "will be assessed" for inclusion in the squad, but Mousa Dembele and Nabil Bentaleb continue to nurse injuries and are doubtful to play.

Well. "Will be assessed" is better than "doubtful" or "will not feature," so that's good. That indicates that Ryan Mason's injury probably isn't as bad as what we all feared after he was stretchered off the pitch in the Sunderland match. I'm not a doctor (nor do I play one on TV) but it seems like Mason probably just suffered a mild knee sprain or a deep bruise.

As for Eriksen, there were ITK murmurs that he was back to training with the club recently, but the wording of this report suggests that he's probably not fully fit. Eriksen is the one player that I think most Spurs fans are the most anxious about, as Spurs have looked a little anemic offensively in the Premier League since he went down.

I wouldn't expect either player to start the match against the Eagles, nor would I necessarily even expect either player to make the bench. If one or both of them do make the match day squad then it's good news for Spurs: that means that the only remaining issue is one of fitness, and that player should be back in the starting lineup soon.

We'll have to see what this means for Spurs' midfield lineup, though. Eric Dier will likely start again, with either Tom Carroll or Dele Alli as his partner, despite both of them featuring against Qarabag. Look for Son Heung-Min and Nacer Chadli to start in the attacking midfield band as well.

Meanwhile, Joel Ward is out for Palace, and Conor Wickham is also a doubt for Alan Pardew's men.