FORMER Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Jake Nicholson is set to play for Crystal Palace in their pre-season friendly at Gillingham on Tuesday night.
The 20-year-old has been training with the Eagles in a bid to win a contract after being released from Spurs, and he impressed for the Palace U21 side in their recent 6-0 victory at East Grinstead Town.
Nicholson, who operates in the middle of the park, played one game for Tottenham in the Europa League in 2011 after a string of impressive performances for the Spurs Academy.
And after suffering back-to-back injuries, he was unable to recapture that form and was released from his contract at the start of this month.
However, he has told the Croydon Advertiser sports desk he has one goal - to put pen to paper on a deal at Selhurst Park.
"At the end of last week I got given great reviews on the East Grinstead game then I thought from performance I might have nicked into first team training and get a shout against Dagenham & Redbridge," said Nicholson.
"Unfortunately I didn't, but I spoke to Ian Holloway on Saturday and he'd heard about the game at East Grinstead, so I'm playing 45 minutes at Gillingham.
"Gary Issott (Academy Director) may have spoken to the management and sung my praises - I've just got to do what I've got to do and hopefully things pan out.
"I'm just taking every day as it comes. You never know what tomorrow holds so I'll be giving my all.
"My job at the moment is just to get a contract at Palace.
"I haven't spoken to anyone else – I just want to keep going into training every day, getting my head down and working hard.
"Hopefully Ian Holloway, Gary and the chairman can finalise something.
"Gillingham will be tougher opposition. They've got a strong side and just got promoted, and their manager is Martin Allen, so he'll get them fired them up.
"But hopefully the quality in the Palace team will see us through.
"I would like to impress tomorrow night and hopefully get another chance at Crawley Town on Saturday."Please credit the Croydon Advertiser if you wish to use ANY of the quotes above.Follow us on Twitter for the latest Palace news, exclusives and live match updates at www.twitter.com/AdvertiserSportPalace fans on Facebook, have your say on our page at www.facebook.com/AdvertiserSportWatch our exclusive away videos following Palace around the country on our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/AdvertiserSport
