Conte makes midfield choice
Antonio Conte faced a big team selection call ahead of Wednesday's Premier League match at Crystal Palace due to a lack of midfield options. Without Rodrigo Bentancur through injury once again, there was also no Yves Bissouma available for selection after the summer addition picked up his fifth booking of the season in the New Year's Day defeat at home to Aston Villa.
That meant it was between Oliver Skipp and Pape Matar Sarr for a starting berth, with the former getting the nod over his teammate. Although Sarr may have come on ahead of the England Under-21 international against Villa, that, in the end, didn't appear to be a sign of the Tottenham midfield pecking order under the Italian.
As much as the Senegalese starlet has caught the head coach's eye in recent weeks, Tottenham required some experience and a presence in midfield given their past few results, thus seeing Skipp handed his third Premier League start of the campaign. It just didn't go as planned for the midfielder in the first half, though, as he very much looked like a player who has not had regular minutes on the pitch of late.
READ MORE: Tottenham player ratings vs Crystal Palace: Kane, Gil, Doherty, Lloris, Son and Sarr impress
He did improve, as did Spurs, in the second half before he was substituted for Sarr on 66 minutes. The incoming player impressed once again in midfield and more minutes could be set to come his way as a result.
The return of the mask
Struggling for form this campaign after finishing Premier League top goalscorer back in May, there was a moment midway through the first half in the Aston Villa defeat where it looked like the old Son Heung-min could be about to return. Having to wear a protective face mask ever since sustaining a fracture around his left eye in the Champions League win over Marseille, the South Korean threw his mask to the ground after tracking back to try and win the ball back after losing possession.
That unfortunately didn't culminate in Son rediscovering his powers, however, as his dreadful run of form continued. Playing the majority of the game without his mask at home to Villa, it did make a return for the trip across the capital to face Crystal Palace. Sustaining the injury two months ago, it does appear that it hasn't quite healed just yet as he was forced to don it once again.
There was one piece of play in the first half that summed up Son's current struggles as he looked to pick out Harry Kane and Bryan Gil in the box. He got his attempted cross all wrong as it ballooned up and went straight out of play as his fellow attackers watched on.
Hesitant on the ball at times, most notably leading up to Matt Doherty's strike as he took an extra touch instead of getting a shot away, he did manage to get a goal to his name with a low finish into the bottom corner. Having discarded his mask against Villa, he did the same once again as he threw it to the ground before celebrating in front of the away faithful.
Bryan wows
Amid question marks over Dejan Kulusevski's fitness ahead of the trip to south east London, it was Bryan who was handed a start in Tottenham's attack for the second successive match with injury keeping his teammate out once again. Showing a few good touches against Aston Villa at the weekend, the Spaniard made a bright start against Palace and took the game to them.
Not having enough power in his first attempt on goal, his second effort this time warmed the palms of Vicente Guaita as he showed his quality on the ball to cut inside and curl a shot at the goalkeeper. Showing some good link-up play with Doherty down the right at times, the winger, and his teammates for that matter, saw little of the ball as the half wore on with Palace on top and pushing for the opener.
Minutes after the restart, Bryan had a big hand in Kane's first of the night as he used the ball well on the edge of the box to play in Ivan Perisic, who in turn picked out Tottenham's No.10 at the back post with an inch-perfect cross. That wasn't it from Bryan as he turned provider not long after with a clever pass to find Kane as the striker doubled his tally with a low finish.
He was just oozing with confidence after his part in the goals and Tottenham fans made their feelings clear as they chanted his name incredibly loud for the rest of the encounter. Quite clearly Bryan's best night in a Spurs shirt, hopefully a few more of them are to come.
The turning point?
Tottenham have been on a miserable run of late and it has seen them slip out of the top four. Extremely low on confidence with the team way off their best, Tottenham really turned it on in the second half at Crystal Palace as they hit their opponents for four.
On a night when Spurs needed their big players to step up, Kane, Son and Hugo Lloris did just that as they put the recent bad results behind them. With Kane hitting a double and Son finally getting his name on the scoresheet after a barren run in front of goal, Lloris was just as vital at the other end of the pitch as he made two brilliant saves to deny Jordan Ayew and another to stop Wilfried Zaha from netting.
So could this be the turning point after such an inconsistent couple of months? Conte and Tottenham fans will be hoping that is very much the case as Arsenal and Man City are on the agenda over the next couple of weeks.
Kane avoids Arsenal nightmare
Kane has been walking the disciplinary tightrope for quite some time now. On four bookings for the season since the 3-2 win over Bournemouth at the end of October, the prospect of a one-match suspension has been looming ahead of the cut-off point of 19 Premier League games.
The real worry for Conte and Spurs heading into the Crystal Palace match was that a booking for Kane in south east London would see him miss the North London Derby against Arsenal on Sunday, January 15 as a result. Thankfully that is not the case as the striker did manage to avoid a caution in his 90 minutes on the pitch.
However, the next issue for Tottenham is that a booking against Arsenal would see Kane miss out on a trip to Man City four days later, providing of course that the game remains on the same day and neither team is involved in an FA Cup replay.
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