Crystal Palace 0-1 Spurs : 3 observations from the game
Crystal Palace came into the game at the back of a poor performance at Stamford Bridge while Spurs are not yet in their best of form. Mauricio Pochettino needed a win to keep in touch with the top four places whereas Roy Hodgson wanted a win to stay away from the relegation zone. It was a London Derby which has its significance for two different reasons.
The home side was up for the challenge from the first minute of the game and looked to take the game to Spurs with Andros Townsend getting a chance to put Palace ahead. Dele Alli got a chance to score, but his header went wide of the post.
In the last ten minutes of the first half, the game looked stretched, and Tottenham created few decent chances but could not break the deadlock. Palace was solid at the back and managed their defensive shape well.
The first big chance of the second half fell to James Tomkins from a corner, but he wasted his header. However, the deadlock broke when Juan Foyth headed home from a close range to give Spurs the lead.
After the goal, Palace made a late surge for the equaliser, but they missed some glorious chances to score much to the dismay of their manager. It was the same old story as the Eagles gave their all but came away empty-handed after the game. Here are the 3 observations from the match.
#3 A narrow win again for Spurs
Tottenham Hotspur has been far from their best this season. They are still managing to win games against lesser oppositions but being made to work hard for it. Both on and off-field distractions have somewhat affected Spurs' game as well.
After leading by three goals in the last game against Wolves, Pochettino's side conceded two in the second half and almost surrendered a point to Nuno's side. Again today, they struggled to shrug the Palace side and scored rather scrappily from a corner. This kind of performance won't do any harm against teams like Wolves or Palace, but against better opponents, it would be hard to get points as they already found out against Manchester City and Liverpool.