With a daunting run of games facing Tottenham Hotspur, manger Mauricio Pochettino has acknowledged the necessity to rotate his players in the coming week.

"We have a lot of games ahead and we need to be careful with the players," Pochettino said. "We need to give the players time to recover and manage them in a very good way because we have some problems with some players but we have a big squad, it is not a problem."

In Spurs' second match in a four game gauntlet, Tottenham will face Crystal Palace at home on Sunday. As Arsenal and Manchester City loom in the days ahead, and Thursday's match against Qarabag already in the books, Tottenham have been presented the first true litmus test of its squad depth this season. Sunday's lineup is not only interesting from the perspective of player preservation, but also from the opponent they face. Palace is no slouch and has been a handful for whomever they have faced this season.

"Palace have improved in different positions and showed it in the last nine or 10 games - they have won eight. They are a very strong team and have improved a lot from last season." "They showed signs of what they are capable of when Alan Pardew took over last season," Tottenham's manager said. "This season they've really kicked on - it will be a tough test. They've got a bit of everything now because they are organised, they defend well but then they also have good attacking players with flair and creativity."

Which echoes to the staunch quality of competition in the Barclay's Premier League. A gargantuan influx of funds, through this summer's TV deal sees clubs strengthened from the top of the table to the bottom. Teams now have a greater likelihood to retain their best players, while being able to fetch the services of footballers previously unattainable to them in the past.

"It's a cliche but there are no easy games in the Premier League. Last season, people were talking about Palace possibly going down but they are now right at the top end of the table. "Look at the likes of Swansea, Everton, Southhampton and now Leicester There are so many good teams that you can't afford to be off the pace in any game. You have to be ready every weekend."

Pochettino has some decisions to make. With Mousa Dembélé and Nabil Bentaleb out of consideration, Eric Dier seeing significant minutes on Thursday, and Christian Eriksen and Ryan Mason listed as game-time decisions; it will fascinating to see the lineup that Pochettino favors. Either way, supporters will learn a lot about their team in the next seven days.