Summing up
That wasn’t enormously fluent, but Spurs’ superiority and possession showed in the end, just about, which will madden Palace, who were never going to offer much variety going forward but had applied the shackles to reasonable effect for most of that game, but Harry Kane’s unerring knack for making an impact was their undoing. What a presence he is, even when he’s not completely bossing things, as he didn’t today.
To sign off, we had just the two emails about Delle Alli’s theatrics this afternoon, and here they are: “I wonder if referees should just give Dele Alli a penalty at the start of every game. Then he might stay on his feet for the rest of it,” sniffs Niall Mullen, while Rick McGahey jinxed Palace by firing off this just before the goal: “Guess Spurs shouldn’t have started Lamela, leaves them with no more go-to divers on the bench to put on and snatch the win. But Alli and Lamela, and maybe even St. Harry, can still give it a go.”
Ah well. That wasn’t a classic, but there’s loads more to come today, starting very soon with Manchester United v Chelsea, which Nick Ames is getting ready to describe right now. Join him here:
I’m off for a spot of lunch. Thanks for your company and emails. Bye.
Crystal Palace 0-1 Tottenham
They are there. Tottenham’s unbeaten run stretches to 15 and they’re into the top four for now. Palace are still in the thick of it.
90+3 mins: Spurs have played out this added time excellently, and win another corner on the right and then muck about with it by the flag. They’re nearly there.
90+2 mins: Now Spurs have another free-kick in a dangerous position after Fosu-Mensah banjoes Moura. Eriksen - who Spurs fans are rhapsodising to the tune of Agadoo – sees his curled effort deflected behind for a corner.
90 mins: Hodgson is seething with frustration, but it had been coming. Spurs have just found a little more edge in the last 10 minutes, and have their reward. We’ll have four more minutes.
Goal! Crystal Palace 0-1 Tottenham (Kane, 88)
… Kane scores. He’s done it again, getting a fraction of space at the far post to nod the ball back across goal, Hennessey gets a touch, but it’s goalbound. Palace’s game plan is undone at the last.
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87 mins: A low cross from Aurier on the right sparks panic in the Palace defence and it’s hacked behind for a corner, from which.…
86 mins: Spurs are getting closer. Kane twists, turns, and despite the attentions of two defenders sends a menacing low shot just wide of the far post.
Another Palace sub: Townsend off, Lee on
85 mins: Palace substitution: Delaney on for Tomkins, who looks like another injury problem for Mr Roy.
84 mins: How did Spurs miss that? An excellent low ball from the left from Davies fizzes across the area, somehow eluding five or six players and possibly startling Aurier, who instead of slotting into the empty net falls over his feet.
83 mins: Son soon makes himself useful, foraying towards the left by-line and winning a corner. From it, the ball eventually finds its way out to Kane, who nutmegs his man brilliantly and creates space for a low shot that is well saved at the near post by Hennessey.
80 mins: Another Tottenham substitution: Dembele off, Son on. James Tomkins meanwhile spends a couple of minutes on the ground needing treatment on his leg. He’s off the field at the minute.
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78 mins: The home side are suddenly enjoying a little more territory, Townsend snatching possession from Aurier and marauding forward on the right but he can’t find an accurate enough ball in and Spurs clear.
76 mins: Palace enjoy a rare break, a good cross in on the left from Van Aanholt finding Riedewald, who wastes the chance when he lets the ball bobble up of his feet and forces him to foul Sanchez.
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74 mins: Another penalty shout, Alli gets goalside of McArthur and is one on one with Hennessey, who is onto it quickly to win the ball. Alli goes down but nothing is given. “Oh Delle Alli, he’s diving again,” chorus the Holmesdale.
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73 mins: Great low save from Hennessey, turning aside Ben Davies’s snap shot after a scramble. That’s as close as Spurs have come.
72 mins: Spurs win another corner after pantomime villain Delle Alli, who’s been booed all afternoon, is crowded out by three defenders inside the area. The Spurs man wants more than a corner, the ref wants a word, and Tottenham want a better delivery than that. It’s headed behind for another corner…
70 mins: Spurs capitalise on a Van Aanholt slip to set up another Spurs attack. Eriksen dispossesses, works it out left where Spurs win another corner, which is rubbish, Eriksen blootering it straight behind. Van Aanholt looked to have fallen awkwardly there. But he’s OK for now
68 mins: Palace harry Sanchez into an error, the defender passing straight out on the left for a Palace throw, but the opportunity is wasted when McArthur fouls Alli. He’s shackled his Spurs counterpart well today though.
66 mins: Tottenham substitution: Lucas Moura makes his Premier League bow, coming on for Lamela. Aurier, meanwhile, delivers his third foul throw of the afternoon. Excellent work.
64 mins: Eriksen wins Spurs another corner when his low ball forward is deflected behind. Lamela’s ball in is well headed clear by Van Aanholt though.
63 mins: Palace have a penalty shout now as Sorloth wriggles onto a long ball inside the area and is sent tumbling by Aurier, but he won the ball clearly. That’s a superb challenge by the full-back.
62 mins: Spurs try to up the tempo, but a final ball, this time from Aurier towards Lamela on the right which runs out of play, lets them down again.
60 mins: … that comes to nothing. Eriksen’s ball is turned behind by, I think, Kane for a goalkick.
58 mins: Eriksen and Lamela are getting more in the game but there’s still no way through for the visitors. Palace can’t hold on to the ball either though, and some space is finally found by Aurier on the right of the area. He shoots, it’s palmed clear to Eriksen, whose shot is also blocked and Palace forage forward, giving Sorloth a headed half-chance, but Spurs come again and exploit some rare gaps to win a corner…
54 mins: What a miss by Kane! Spurs make better use of their possession, with Alli playing a neat ball from left to right is knocked back by Wanyama for Eriksen whose lofted ball finds Kane in space on the six-yard area but he volleys wide when it would have been easier to score.
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53 mins: To be fair to Palace’s big lads up front, they’re playing a decent pressing role on Dembele and Spurs’ deep midfield areas, even if they don’t look as if they’ll score themselves.
51 mins: Another Spurs chance squandered. A cross from the left is deflected into the path of Eriksen just inside the area, in as much space as this game will allow, and he snatches at it, thumping it way too high.
49 mins: Palace get it forward, sparking a frantic foot race between Benteke and Dier, which the latter wins just and Spurs come again, this time down the right, but they still can’t get behind the Palace back line. It remains all a bit scrappy.
48 mins: Alli feeds Kane with a cute threaded ball to the striker, who thunders forward and then makes an absolute hash of his shot, slicing absurdly high and wide.
47 mins: Some nice midfield passing from Tottenham sees the ball worked for the busy Davies on the left, but his cross is poor and easily cleared. The pattern is already set. Spurs with the ball, Palace trying to snap at their heels, their front men isolated.
46 mins: Spurs are in possession straight away, with neither side having made any half-time changes.
Peep!
Palace get us back underway. “Good first half from Palace,” chirps Matt Pearce, “despite that half-chance spurned by Townsend before the break. Impressed with Wan-Bissaka so far, looks energetic and anticipating situations well. Good to see a youngster given some game time, as all of Holloway, Pulis, Warnock, Pardew and Allardyce were very reluctant to play kids due to our almost never ending battle against relegation. Even if it is forced by injury, props to Roy for the decision to give youth a chance (see John Lennon).”
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A slightly quirky fact: if Spurs avoid defeat today it’ll mean this is their longest unbeaten run since the halcyon days of, er, George Graham in 1999, when the game really was all about glory.
Half-time studio jabber centres, with weary inevitability, on two Spurs penalty shouts, the Kane offside on and the early clattering of Ben Davies by Hennessey, which I didn’t get a great view of earlier and looks the more contentious of the two.
A couple of interval emails meanwhile: Ravi Raman asks “Do football managers now refer to themselves with the royal we (11:52) or do they mean their respective teams?” while Ashley Williamson asks “Am I the only person who thinks Van Aanholt was a colossal waste of money?” I don’t know. Let you, the public, decide. He’s not completely convinced for sure.
Half-time: Crystal Palace 0-0 Tottenham
The corner is headed clear, and that’s our lot for the first half. It’s been pretty one-sided, and Spurs have had so many more options going forward than their opponents, but Palace have dug in and Tottenham haven’t quite been penetrative enough.
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45 mins: Townsend wins another free-kick, going down a little too easily as Dembele barges across him. And from it Palace end up winning a corner on the left after Sorloth’s knock-down gives Benteke a chance to power forward and force the corner.…
44 mins: McArthur picks up a loose ball just inside his area and threads a nice ball forward into Townsend, who does his customary run-and-cut-inside thing and then makes a poor choice: a weak snap-shot straight along the ground to Lloris.
43 mins: As if to prove my point, Aurier needlessly foul-throws in from the right. But Spurs come again and win another free-kick just inside the Palace half. It’s cleared from the penalty spot but Tottenham have possession again.
42 mins: Spurs might just be a little disappointed with this: they’re clearly the better side, have dominated possession and yet haven’t really fashioned that many clear chances in the circumstances and final balls have not been at their best.
39 mins: There is, as usual, a fair old din inside Selhurst: funny to think that 20 or so years ago this ground had a reputation as featureless, atmosphere-less and drab, and now is regarded as one of England’s most vibrant. On the pitch, Tottenham are passing it about again, until Aurier swings a cross in from the right that’s an easy grab for Hennessey.
37 mins: Townsend, who looks like Palace’s lone creative outlet, almost finds Benteke with a clever curling ball forward into the area but Lloris is alert to it and gathers under pressure.
35 mins: Davies is caught in possession by Benteke who feeds Wan-Bissake who plays in Townsend for a cross that’s turned behind for a Palace corner. Corners are going to be Palace’s best hope, and this one is aimed at Benteke, just a little too high and it’s headed back for Van Aanholt in space, but he slices it ineffectually into the arms of Lloris.
33 mins: Palace’s defending has an increasingly last-ditch look about it now as Spurs push them deeper and deeper. They’ve done well to avoid getting carved apart to be honest, and they find respite with a marauding surge down the left from Sorloth that wins them time and territory, and a throw-in. Which comes to nothing. Spurs have the ball again …
30 mins: Palace get away with one here, as McArthur loses possession on the edge of his area, and the ball is knocked forward to Kane, who’s surely tripped. But he’s also fractionally offside, so it’s a Palace free-kick rather than Tottenham penalty.
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29 mins: A few soft free-kicks are being conceded now as it gets a bit low-key-niggly. The latest gives Spurs another long spell in possession before Dembele is well dispossessed. Tottenham come again and Alli and Dyer have shots blocked.Palace
Meanwhile m’learned colleague Kevin Mitchell emails in with this: “Interesting to see if ex-Spurs Nya Kirby comes off the bench against his old club. Fine young player, who figured in England U17 World Cup win.
25 mins: Eriksen gives it away this time, off Townsend goes again, and a fine cross from the right is just nudged clear off the incoming Sorloth. And now Spurs have the ball once again.
24 mins: Tottenham press again after Townsend is the latest attacking player to give the ball away cheaply, sparking a long spell of possession for the visitors, which ends when Wanyama gets to the byline on the right and rather crassly belts an attempted cross towards the Palace ultras.
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22 mins: Some occasional laxness in possession from Spurs here: Lamela gives the ball away, setting up another attack down the right from Townsend, who’s felled by the same player and wins a free-kick that is easily cleared. Danger averted.
20 mins: Townsend is getting more involved in the game, and another wide roam gives him space to aim a long diagonal ball to Sorloth, whose header is ineffectual. It’s not been the most penetrating of starts for the Norwegian.
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18 mins: A half-chance for Palace as a poor clearance gives Townsend a chance to break on the right, he lays it back for McArthur, whose shot is blocked, but just a glimmer of vulnerability there for Palace to aim at.
16 mins: Davies, Alli and Lamela combine smartly down the left, but a panicked Palace defence manages to clear and then win a throw, and some respite, on halfway. Kane is then barged/challenged off the ball, and Palace work it out to Van Aanholt who whips in dangerous low cross for the onrushing Benteke but Lloris gathers.
13 mins: Van Aanholt’s been caught out a couple of times already here, and concedes another free-kick after Alli picks his pocket. Eriksen almost chips Hennessey, who’s off his line, from 40 yards but the keeper plucks it out of the air comfortably enough.
12 mins: Palace win a free-kick on the left, which is swung in for Tomkins to power a header straight at Lloris. He might have done better with that.
10 mins: The corner comes to nothing, being easily nodded clear but Tottenham are soon back on the ball. And they get another chance when Van Aanholt hashes a clearance and plays in Kane, whose shot is well blocked by the keeper. Another corner. Another headed clearance. We have a pattern to this game.
8 mins: Tottenham’s first chance. Spurs win their first dangerous-position fre-kick, which Eriksen floats in, Davies gets round the back of a dozing Townsend and in front of a hesitant Hennessey and wins a corner when his low angled cross is turned behind.
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7 mins: Sanchez is almost caught out as Palace continue to harry at their back line, and is forced into a hurried back-pass, but it enables Spurs to build again and enjoy their first sustained stint of possession, but it’s squandered by Kane, no less, with a soft awry pass down the right.
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4 mins: But then Spurs swiftly win a corner when Tomkins has to head behind a raking long ball down the right. It’s headed clear by Benteke.Spurs come again after winning a throw on the left.
3 mins: Sort of. The ball comes in at mid-height, sparks a scramble, Sorloth in the thick of it, but Tottenham work it away. Some sparky early pressing from Palace here.
2 mins: Palace win the first free-kick just inside Spurs’ half. Milovejevic plays it short to Van Aanholt who works it inside the area and wins an early corner. A chance to target Palace’s two big lads up front, Sorloth and Benteke?
Peep!
Spurs get us underway, attacking the Holmesdale End
Out come the teams, on comes Glad All Over and, even from the comfort of an office, it looks mightily cold and crisp out there.
The managers speak: Roy Hodgson welcomes the debutant Aaron Wan-Bissaka atright-back. “We’ve been impressed with him, while he’s trained with the first team which he’s been doing for a while back, and has the qualities yuo need to be a good right-back/ We’ve had to move Fosu-Mensah into the centre-back position and that’s given Aaron his chance.” As for countering Spurs’ marauding attackers, “We’ve got to stay compact in the areas they operate in, we’ll be working hard in those central areas to deny them time and space.”
Mauricio Pochettino confirms Jan Vertonghen’s injury in training yesterday – “he feels pain in his ankle and is not ready to play.” As for today’s opponents, “Palace are a good team, a very good squad, we need ready to be compete 100% etc etc.…”
Our first email: Palace fan Ray Ward gets his excuses in earlier underway with this rueful but understandable observation: “We have an Injured XI that you’d fancy to avoid relegation if it was your starting XI. Plus enough left over to have one on the bench.” Spurs, meanwhile, have the likes of Son, Lucas Moura and Trippier on the bench.
A little more on that Spurs team. A couple of injury niggles for them, too, Jan Vertonghen being sidelined after taking a knock in training yesterday and Toby Alderweireld out with a minor hamstring injury.
Wan-Bissaka fact:
Aaron Wan-Bissaka becomes the first #CPFC academy graduate to make a full league debut in 2148 days. 5 years, 10 months and 16 days since Kyle de Silva's full league debut in a 2-0 defeat by Southampton. pic.twitter.com/WqI4IvyhIB
— Matt Woosie (@MattWoosie) February 25, 2018
Team news
They line up thusly:
Crystal Palace: Hennessey; Wan-Bissaka, Fosu-Mensah, Tomkins, Van Aanholt, Milivojevic, Riedewald, McArthur, Townsend, Sorloth, Benteke. Subs: Henry, Soare, Delaney, Rakip, Lokilo, Kirby, Lee.
Tottenham: Lloris; Aurier, Sanchez, Dier, Davies, Wanyama, Dembélé, Lamela, Eriksen, Alli, Kane. Subs: Vorm, Trippier, Foyth, Rose, Sissoko, Lucas, Son.
Referee: Kevin Friend
So, a debut for Palace academy graduate Aaron Wan-Bissaka and a home debut for the Norwegian striker Alexander Sorloth. And tough old baptisms these are likely to be.
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Preamble
Morning everyone. We’re at that time of the season where, in recent times, Spurs have hit their straps, thrumming thrillingly through the gears en route to nearly winning something. They’re not going to win anything in the league this year either, but they need to keep winning to secure a place in the top four and make themselves the solid European force they so clearly have the potential of becoming, as their performance in Turin the other week demonstrated.
They’re visiting a Palace side who need to get a run together as they scrabble for enough points to stay up. For all that Mister Roy has engineered a revival in south London, they’re only out of the drop zone on goal difference. But they too have tended to come alive at this time of the season. It was on this very day last year that victory in a relegation six-pointer against Middlesbrough started a run of four straight wins under Sam Allardyce that led them out of danger. Given their injury problems – no Zaha, Loftus-Cheek, Puncheon or Cabaye among others – they’ll need to play above themselves to win this one. But if Rochdale can rattle Spurs, why not Palace?
Kick-off is 12pm GMT.
