Well, what a lovely game that turned into. It was a game that seemed to hinge on the substitutions, with Spurs seemingly in some control after going 1-0 ahead. But then Mauricio Pochettino made some curious changes that messed with the structure of the team, whereas Pardew unleashed Wilf Zaha who seemed to put the fear of God into the Spurs defence. Palace are now 15th, though they are only one point ahead of QPR in second-bottom.
Cheers for reading, and well done if you didn’t feel a bit poorly watching Pards blow kisses to the crowd.
Full-time: Crystal Palace 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Pards gets his win, then.
90 mins + 5: Speroni does brilliantly to both save and hold onto a thriker of a shot from Capoue, out on the left, that dips and swerves and bounces just in front of the Palace keeper. Smashing keeping.
90 mins + 4: Spurs desperately trying to snag an equaliser, with a few forward balls with a definite whiff of the mixer about them. One of them falls for Kane, but his header into the area doesn’t find a Spurs player, and Speroni gathers gladly.
90 mins + 2: Zaha dances down the left and shoots to the near post, but his effort is easily saved. There’s then a bout of pushing that ends with Campbell on the turf, leading to bookings for him and the man that put him there, Fazio.
90 mins: Glorious slipped pass by Eriksen through the Palace defence, but Delaney does brilliantly to slide in and stop the attack. Meanwhile, the fourth official has indicated a minimum of six (6) minutes added time.
89 mins: Almost a fight as Chadli and Puncheon square off, but disappointingly it’s all stopped before it can really escalate.
88 mins: Rose dances with the devil after making a very, very robust challenge. A brassy move for someone already on a booking.
87 mins: One more sub for Palace - Gayle goes off, and Fraizer Campbell is on.
86 mins: Kane goes a tumblin’ in the box under a slight challenge from Ledley, but no dice. It would’ve been soft, but I’ve seen them given, Saint.
84 mins: Little flick on the left of the area by Dembele sets up Kane, who shoots from the corner of the box, but it goes straight at Speroni.
83 mins: A couple of corners come in from Spurs, the second eventually finds Vertonghen on the edge of the box, who tries a very ambitious headed effort at goal. Rather predictably, it’s easily gathered by Speroni.
81 mins: Spurs straight back on it - Dembele feeds Eriksen on the edge of the box, whose shot is deflected wide. Could be a spicy last ten or so.
80 mins: Zaha’s the man that has created something for Palace there, storming in from the left and beating his man, before crossing low into the box, it falls out to Puncheon who swings the leg peg and drills it low into the corner.
Updated
GOAL! Crystal Palace 2-1 Tottenham (Puncheon 80)
Well sweet fancy Moses.
79 mins: There’s a break in play for treatment for Lloris, who got a bang on the head after claiming a through-ball.
77 mins: Big shout for a penalty for Palace - the ball hops up near Walker and hits his arm, but a) he was looking the other way and b) it might actually have been just outside the area. No penalty given, but Jason Puncheon gets a booking for his protests.
76 mins: First involvement from Zaha, who lollipops his way down the left side of the box, but his low cross is blocked at the near post.
75 mins: Sub for Spurs - Stambouli withdrawn, Roberto Soldado trots on to replace him.
74 mins: Kane bloody well nearly dances through the entire Palace defence after running with the ball from near halfway, but it just about crowded out in the end, as he reaches the area.
73 mins: Another switch - Palace replace Murray with Wilf Zaha.
72 mins: Eriksen flings that free-kick over from the right, but it’s headed away at the near-post.
71 mins: Spurs try to get back ahead straight away. Walker charges down the right but is knocked over, giving them a free-kick in a dangerous spot. Meanwhile, Etienne Capoue is on for Townsend.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 1-1 Tottenham (Gayle 69)
And Dwight Gayle absolutely leathers it low to Lloris’s right. Game on.
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PENALTY FOR PALACE
68 mins: Ledley is felled by a sliding challenge by Stambouli, and it looked a little like the tackle was more ball than man, but the ref points to the spot.
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66 mins: Stambouli tries a slipped pass through the Palace defence looking for Townsend, but the only way he’d have reached that is if he was on one of those speeders from Return of the Jedi. Or was a horse.
64 mins: Gayle, who’s spent most of the game flitting between the flanks, gets down the right and tries a cross, which flies off his foot like a balloon with the air, released from it. High, wide, over, rubbish.
62 mins: Not happening for Palace at the moment. Pards comes to the sidelines and waves his arms around a bit. The crowd are irked that Lloris is taking his sweet time over a goalkick.
59 mins: Kane very nearly makes a chance for himself after Delaney plays the definition of a hospital pass back to Speroni, but the keeper just manages to sneak the ball away with Kane looming.
57 mins: Kane’s Gooner past coming back to haunt him...
Just can't enjoy that Harry Kane goal now I know he played for another team when he was seven.
— Dave Tickner (@tickerscricket) January 10, 2015
55 mins: Fazio gets a booking for absolutely barreling through Guedioura with a late, sliding challenge.
54 mins: Another chance for Gayle. Dann heads down a deep free-kick from the right and it falls to Gayle with his back to goal. He attempts a rather ambitious scissor kick and it takes a deflection (possibly off Vertonghen’s hand, but nobody protested too much) before reaching Lloris, who gathers with little fuss.
53 mins:
Six goals for Kane in his last six PL matches. Palace have scored twice over the same period.
— Matthew Stanger (@MatthewStanger) January 10, 2015
52 mins: Palace could, perhaps should be level already, as the ball falls to Gayle around eight yards out from a cross into the box. He stabs it goalwards but Lloris throws his hands up (not necessarily for Detroit) and just about keeps it out.
51 mins: That’s 18 for the season, seven in seven for Kane. Not bad at all.
49 mins: Absolutely delightful finish from the boy Kane. Chadli struggles through a crowd of defenders around 25 yards from goal and stabs it to Kane on the edge of the box. There’s a whiff of offside and Kane has a few problems digging the ball from under his feet, but when he eventually does he fires a terrific low shot across goal and into the bottom corner, giving Speroni nary a sniff. Magic stuff, that.
Updated
GOAL! Crystal Palace 0-1 Spurs (Kane 49)
Of course it’s him.
47 mins: Bit of an entertaining ruck in the Spurs area, after Lloris waves and misses a punch from a corner. The ball eventually falls to Gayle, but he slips over in the area. Maybe it’s something about that bit of the pitch - that, sort of the left side of the area, is where Rose stacked it twice earlier.
46 mins: And we’re away. Hopefully for some more curiously entertaining football.
Change for Palace at the break - Bannan is hooked, to be replaced by Adlene Guedioura. Perhaps he’ll do this.
Updated
Half-time: Crystal Palace 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur
Been an oddly entertaining game, this. It started off badly with nobody creating much of anything in the first 20-odd minutes, but after that it’s been better, if not over-burdened with anything like quality. And of course, it’s been largely characterised by the two big chances for either team, Eriksen fluffing his and Murray thwarted by a decent save by Lloris.
45 mins + 1: The half ends with a Palace attack that Gayle very nearly gets on the end of, but can’t quite manage a shot. Kelly does, but it sails over the bar.
45 mins: Smashing turn by Murray just on halfway and he looks like he’ll start an attack of some menace, but Dann cynically crops him up like he’s in the school playground. Yellow card.
43 mins: Rose might want to take a look at his studs - he plays a ball to Chadli but slips quite emphatically onto his bottom going for the return pass. At the other end, Gayle almost gets in behind Fazio but tumbles on the edge of the area. There was a bit of a touch on the striker’s back there, but nowhere near enough to really send him over.
40 mins: Superb display of skill and determination in midfield by Stambouli, with some fine tackles and a little roulette thrown in there too. It was like Zidane with hair. But about a million times less good. Still, he looks decent, does the young Frenchman.
38 mins: Eriksen and Chadli do well to carve out some space and a chance for Walker to cross from the right side of the area, which he does, but there’s nobody in a threatening position in the centre to take advantage.
37 mins: Bannan goes into the book for a slightly late challenge on Dembele. Not much in it, but studs slightly high etc and so on and so forth.
35 mins: Close for Palace. McArthur stabs the ball through to find Murray in an inexplicable amount of space in the Spurs area, but the forward’s stabbed finish is saved well by the onrushing Hugo Lloris. Fine stop, that.
34 mins: All very scrappy for Palace. McArthur spins neatly just inside the Spurs half and knocks the ball through looking for the run of Gayle, but the striker slips over before he can reach it.
Updated
32 mins: The first corner is headed behind for another, the second is headed away and eventually crossed back in by Dembele, and some smart defending by Delaney is required to clear the danger. Still neither side really creating too much of any substance, but Spurs are undoubtedly on top.
31 mins: Daft corner conceded by Speroni, after Rose loops a cross in from the left that is gently looping out before the keeper, perhaps spooked by Kane being vaguely nearby, flips the thing out with his left hand.
29 mins: Brief moment of comedy as Fazio barrels straight into the back of Murray, one of the more obvious fouls you’ll see in any sort of football, and has the temerity to complain about the decision. Better luck next time, big horse.
28 mins: Another half-chance for Palace, as Murray directs a header in the vague direction of goal from near the penalty spot, but it goes wide.
26 mins: Bannan swings the resultant free-kick into the box, and after a spot of pinballing around the area it falls to Delaney who, off-balance, puts his shot high into the stands.
25 mins: Booking for Townsend, and it’s softer than a melty brie, after he pulls back Kelly breaking down the left. But only a little bit.
24 mins: And Palace follow up with their best chance of the game. Gayle drifts out to the left and whips in a smashing early cross, finding the forehead of McArthur arriving late in the box, but his header goes just over the bar.
22 mins: What a miss! A smashing move by Spurs from left to right across the pitch finds Townsend, who shapes to shoot but knocks a short pass to Walker overlapping on the right instead, who cuts it back to Eriksen, unmarked on the edge of the six-yard box, but with the ball very slightly behind him he skews the effort wide, with the goal gaping. Eeesh.
19 mins: Rose is down in the Palace penalty area after running in to Kelly, then gets trodden on by Dann. Unfortunate, slightly slapstick, one of the more interesting things that has happened in the game so far.
17 mins: Townsend wriggles his way from betwixt three defenders and stabs a pass to Kane, who shifts the ball to his left foot and shoots low, but it doesn’t trouble the scorers, Speroni gathering with ease.
15 mins: Delaney hooooooooooofs the ball down the pitch looking for the bonce of Murray, but while the striker wins the header, he can’t do anything particularly useful with it.
13 mins: Spurs work the ball across the pitch from left to right, before a horrible touch from Townsend stops that particular phase of the attack. The ball then falls to Nacer Chadli who breaks into the box, then launches himself between Delaney and Kelly, presumably looking for a penalty, but that one ain’t foolin’ the ref. No booking for diving just yet, mind, which Pards isn’t impressed with.
10 mins: Slapstick stuff from Jason Puncheon, who wins the ball in a robust challenge with Rose, then gaily dribbles the ball out of play on the Palace right. Not exactly, one imagines, what he had in mind.
9 mins: Fairly quiet so far. Spurs not quite managing to get anything like a passing game going. Palace slightly better on that score, but still haven’t created much at all.
7 mins: Glenn Murray tries to roll Jan Vertonghen about 30 yards from goal, just to the left of centre. Palace shift the free-kick to give Barry Bannan a better angle for the shot, which he’s allowed to do thanks to some rather lax closing down by Spurs, and the wind catches his shot, taking it wide and removing a good chunk of the oomph from the effort.
4 mins: The first shot of the game comes, such as it is, with Mousa Dembele attempting an effort from about 25 yards out. It’s not so much that it doesn’t threaten the goal, but more that it’s a bit of a surprise it even made it to the line. It goes wide. Pards makes a couple of notes.
2 mins: Spurs attack first up down the left, and Danny Rose attempts a rather curious cross with the outside of his left foot, but it arcs out of play, way ahead of even The New Gareth Bale, Harry Kane.
1 mins: We’re away, and Selhurst Park sounds like a right fun place to be.
Pards is whooping it up like the King he surely is.
Updated
And one more before kick-off, a band that had a big influence on your adolescent MBMer as a teenager for a number of reasons, those suitable for a family audience and not. It’s Sleeper, with ‘Sale of the Century.’ Louis Wener is of course now a writer and I think runs writing classes. Who fancies coming with me?
How about ‘Stars’ by Dubstar? How about yes, is what how about it is.
Sorry, that was a bit bleak. Here’s a more cheerful number: ‘Friends’ by the Wannadies. As far as I’m aware nobody in the Wannadies, despite the slightly ominous nature of their name, has killed themselves.
Continuing the them from the Sunderland v Liverpool game earlier, allow us to enjoy some low-level 90s indie songs. Next up, ‘Single Girl’ by Lush, a shoegaze band before they discovered choruses, and who actually had something of a tragic story not long after this song was released, as drummer Chris Acland committed suicide.
Here’s a weird episode from the history of this fixture, in the FA Cup third round back in 2004. Russell Thomas explains from the Guardian report at the time:
Tottenham’s Frédéric Kanouté may have been the centre of attention here after scoring a hat-trick ahead of his proposed sabbatical with Mali, but the main talking point was the bizarre sending-off of Crystal Palace’s Danny Butterfield for a foul he did not commit.
The referee Andy D’Urso is to clear Butterfield of his red card after admitting that he had punished the wrong player for a challenge on the Spurs striker Bobby Zamora - it was plain to see that Jamie Smith had been the real offender. Butterfield’s red card will now be automatically removed, leaving Smith to face retrospective action.
Team news
Crystal Palace
Speroni; Kelly, Delaney, Dann, Ward; Puncheon, Ledley, McArthur, Bannan; Gayle, Murray. Subs: Hennessey, Mariappa, Guedioura, Hangeland, Thomas, Campbell, Zaha.
Tottenham Hotspur
Lloris; Walker, Fazio, Vertonghen, Rose; Dembele, Stambouli; Chadli, Eriksen, Townsend; Kane. Subs: Vorm, Davies, Kaboul, Capoue, Lennon, Paulinho, Soldado.
Referee: Anthony Taylor (Wythenshawe, Manchester)
Preamble
Evening. You well? Alan Pardew certainly seems to be, going from a club where everyone hates him to one where at least some people like him. Which is probably better, on balance. Handsome Pards got quite the reception during the glorified training exercise that was their FA Cup third round win over Dover last week, the Palace fans presumably just happy to have someone who isn’t Neil Warnock in charge of their club. Even if it is Pards.
Even with the goodwill, Pardew has a pretty old job on his hands at Selhurst Park. Palace are in the bottom three (at the time of writing, before the end of the 3pms), having not won a game since November 23 and have a couple of vital, crucial players disappearing for a month or more. Yannick Bolasie and Mile Jedinak have done one to the Africa Cup of Nations and the Asian Cup respectively, leaving dirty great holds in the middle and the flank of their team.
While Pards will be looking to buy this month, they could well have some internal solutions - so says Yemi Abiade in our 10 things to look out for in the Premier League this weekend, anyway:
Alan Pardew’s return to Crystal Palace as manager could be the jolt in the arm the Eagles need. With a morale-boosting 4-0 FA Cup win at Dover Athletic and a noisy Palace support behind him, Pardew automatically seems more at home than at any point during four years at Newcastle. Fervent excitement surrounds the club as it enters a new phase with an old boy taking the lead. Back in the Premier League however, the South London side are winless in the last seven games. While only days into his reign, Tottenham’s visit to Selhurst Park will provide the first hint of just how bold and inventive Pardew’s Palace will be. Along with the task of containing a vastly improving Spurs side and the irrepressible Harry Kane the manager, crucially, has to find a goalscorer in his squad. Pardew may yet turn to Glenn Murrray, the man forgotten by predecessor Neil Warnock and so consistent for Palace before a serious knee injury in 2013, but still incisive after eight goals on loan at Reading during the first half of the season. He deserves an opportunity.
As for Spurs, it’s all coming up Milhouse for them at the moment. It’s as if that bit in Roy Keane’s book about Fergie’s old ‘Lads, it’s just Spurs’ teamtalk has been a motivation for them, because it’s not just that they’re winning games, but they’re winning games that they always, always, always used to use, specifically of course that absolute hoofing that they gave Chelsea last weekend. They’ve only lost one in the last nine, won four of the last five and Harry Kane is basically the reincarnation of Gareth Bale. Bale isn’t dead, obviously, but you know what I mean.
But don’t take my word for it. Read about how Mauricio Pochettino has stiffened them up by the Argentinean’s No.1 guy Jacob Steinberg:
He is unlikely ever to admit it, but a few alarm bells must have been ringing inside Mauricio Pochettino’s head when Stoke City left White Hart Lane 2-1 victors on 9 November. It had not taken long for Tottenham Hotspur to lose four home matches in the league, they were off the pace in the race to finish in the top four and, knowing how short Daniel Levy’s patience can be, there were a few mischievous whispers about Pochettino potentially being in trouble. This is modern football; someone, somewhere, has to be in crisis.
That would have been ludicrous short-termism given that Pochettino had only been in the job for a few months after leaving Southampton last summer and now, allowed time and space to get his message across to his players, he has lifted Tottenham to fifth place. They have lost only once in their past nine league matches – and there were actually some encouraging signs from Tottenham in the first 20 minutes of what ultimately turned out to be a comfortable 3-0 victory for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last month – and they will go fourth if they beat Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday. Southampton, who are two points above Tottenham, visit Manchester United on Sunday.
Should be a good one, this. Join in. All the cool kids are.
Kick-off: 5.30pm
Updated
Good afternoon. Nick will be here shortly. Until then, here’s Alan Pardew on his short-lived Spurs hell, from the pen of Dave Hytner:
In a way, I suppose I am part of Spurs’ history,” Pardew said, of his involvement in the 8-0 Intertoto Cup defeat to Köln in 1995. “It was the end of my career and I was looking for a club. I was asked: ‘Would you like to come to play in the Intertoto Cup for Spurs?’ I said: ‘OK, that sounds like a good idea.’ It was specifically on that basis.
I remember the live TV cameras being there. That was the first time I saw a camera behind the goal and I thought: ‘This is going to be entertaining,’ bearing in mind it was their first team. We literally had the youth team, a couple of reserves, and some mercenaries – I was one of them. I still enjoyed it. It was a great experience.”
Gerry Francis was the Tottenham manager but he left control of the team to his assistant, Chris Hughton. None of the club’s first-team players were involved. “I don’t recall seeing Francis at the games,” Pardew said. “He was probably watching from the beach somewhere.”
Read more here.
