Tottenham marked their return home with a win - but more importantly, with a message of hope to the local community after nearly two years away.
Images of their final game at White Hart Lane kick-started the opening ceremony of the all new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before David Lammy, MP for Tottenham, spoke of children’s lives being ‘transformed’ by the return of their club, in their new £1billion home.
Chairman Daniel Levy, who revealed in his match programme notes that the initial delays around critical safety systems had been the darkest moment of the entire project, says the new stadium is just the start for the area of Tottenham.
"We did not just want to build a stadium," Levy wrote. "We wanted to change the prospects for those that live in this part of London, particularly after the 2011 riots, and for our stadium to be the flagship development that kick-started its regeneration.”
That commitment was referenced in the opening ceremony here. Pupils from the Gladesmore Community School took to the pitch to perform ‘Everybody Dreams’, first released a year after the riots as an anthem of hope for the youth in Tottenham.
There were nods to the past and future of Tottenham, tenor Wynne Evans who performed at the Finale in May 2017 gave a rendition of ‘Glory, Glory Tottenham Hotspur’ after players from the club’s academy had formed a guard of honor to welcome Harry Kane, Dele Alli and the rest of the side onto the pitch for the first time.
The noise put Wembley, the club’s temporary home in their time away, to shame. The test events required to make tonight’s game against Crystal Palace possible were special occasions as fans got their first glimpse of their new home, but once that initial feeling of awe had faded both games became a touch flat.
Not tonight, well before the opening ceremony had begun a roar louder than almost anything heard at the two test events greeted the players as they made their way out to warm up for the first time, a deafening rendition of ‘we’ve got Alli’ as they headed back to the changing room.
They re-emerged into a new era, one Levy, Mauricio Pochettino and all connected to the club hope will bring trophies on the pitch and change around it.
Cue the return of Premier League football to this section of London, and most importantly, three crucial points in the club's pursuit of place in next season's Champions League.
Spurs knew that failure to win - coupled with a Chelsea victory over Brighton - would see them fall out of the top four for the first time since December 2.
There was no time to settle in. No time to take in their new surrounding. They needed to hit ground running, and at speed.
Fortunately for Tottenham, Crystal Palace didn't appear interested in spoiling the party.
Spurs found opening after opening in the Palace back line, but it was a lack of clinical finishing in the final third that was proving their downfall, with Christian Eriksen in particular struggling.
A party atmosphere was turning tense, but that would not last for long.
Attacking their remarkable South Stand – seating 17,500 fans in a single-tiered wall of sound - Pochettino’s side move to their grove.
Eriksen had struggled in the final third, but from deep he remained precise, finding the feet of Son on the corner of Palace’s penalty area with ease. The South Korean stood up James Tomkins, skipped inside him and fired goalward, a touch of captain Luka Milivojevic sending it into the corner and leaving Guaita helpless. History had, rather fortuitously, been made.
Star striker Harry Kane didn’t have his dream goal to open the stadium, but he was still causing trouble. The England captain burst down the left and into the box, before going down under pressure from James McArthur, the home support cried for a penalty, but as the ball popped free Eriksen remained alert and turned home to put an end to five League games without a win, a reward for his hard work here and many will hope an individual turning point ahead of the run-in.
Tottenham were off and running and, finally, back to winning ways.
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