Tottenham Hotspur on Monday opened up a five-point gap at the top of the Premier League with a comprehensive 2-1 win over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park late on Friday night. A Joel Ward own goal and a Son Heung-Min tap-in ensured Postecoglou’s men kept their Premier League unbeaten record intact.
Roy Hodgson took charge of his 500th game at the helm of an English club as he looked to get his side back on track. Palace had won just one of their last six outings in all competitions before today’s game, a 1-0 win over Manchester United at the end of last month. Hodgson made just one change to the side that lost heavily to Newcastle United last time out. Schlupp was adjudged fit again and came straight in from the start, which meant a more central role for Edouard. Mateta dropped to the bench.
Spurs were flying high, and sat two points clear of Manchester City and Arsenal at the top of the table before the game. They had the chance to extend that lead to five points with another win here. They’re still unbeaten in the Premier League this season, and had won the last three on the bounce. Ange Postecoglou makes two changes from their win over Fulham on Monday. Bissouma returned after serving a suspension in that game, with Davies also brought in. Sarr recovered from a problem he picked up in that game to retain his place. Hojbjerg started on the bench, as did Bentancur after recovering from an ACL injury. Destiny Udogie missed out through injury.
Crystal Palace played the first half well as Spurs were largely chasing the game. The away team started finding spaces in the second half, and one such instance led to the first goal for Spurs. It was another neat bit of play from Spurs down their right as Porro touched it through to Sarr, and he pulled it back to Maddison on the right of the box. Maddison went for goal, but his shot was nowhere near the target until Ward tried to intercept it and inadvertently put it into his own net.
The second goal came from captain Son Heung-Min who has stepped up big time, especially since the departure of Harry Kane. Spurs scored their second goal with their first shot on target in the game. It started with a big switch by Sarr out to Johnson, who played a one-two with Maddison down the left so he could get into the box. Instead of going for the goal himself, he touched it into Son, who made no mistake as he fired it into the empty net.
Spurs vs Crystal Palace First XI
Tottenham Hotspur XI: Guglielmo Vicario; Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Ben Davies; Yves Bissouma, Pape Sarr; Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison, Richarlison; Son Heung-Min.
Crystal Palace XI: Sam Johnstone; Joel Ward, Joachim Andersen, Marc Guehi, Tyrick Mitchell; Jefferson Lerma, Cheick Doucoure, Will Hughes; Jordan Ayew, Odsonne Edouard, Jeffrey Schlupp.
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