Spurs 3 – 1 Crystal Palace Review

Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham side show tremendous character at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to beat Oliver Glasner’s Eagles after going a goal behind in North London.

Spurs remain well in contention for a place in next season’s UEFA Champions League following victory against Oliver Glasner’s Crystal Palace at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Ange Postecoglou’s team had to show their resilience and character to come from a goal down to win 3 – 1 in North London.

These valuable three points have seen the Lilywhites now stand on 50 points accumulated after their 26 matches this season. Unai Emery’s Aston Villa may be 5 points ahead in 4th place, Spurs do have a game in hand – This gap exists after Villa got the better of Luton Town at Kenilworth Road after the Lilywhites’ win against Palace.

The two top four contenders come face to face at Villa Park in what is set to be a crucial clash between these two clubs in B6 on Sunday, 10th, March 2024, in what is set to be a 13:00 kick-off.

As for the Eagles, this result meant that they dropped down a place to 14th, now with 28 points from their 27 Premier League games as of the time of writing. The South London outfit has a relatively comfortable margin of 8 points between themselves and a place in the top flight’s relegation zone.

Now we move on to the game itself between Spurs and Crystal Palace. The game began with an early chance for the away side, which came through former Aston Villa and Swansea City forward Jordan Ayew. However, the Ghana international failed to find the target from just outside of the penalty box (5’).

The visitors then had two further early chances. First, France’s Jean-Phillipe Mateta had an effort blocked before Adam Wharton, who signed for the Eagles from Blackburn Rovers in January, missed the target following a set-piece (13’).

It was Tottenham who were presented with the first significant opportunity to score the opening goal a few moments later. Timo Werner, on loan from German Bundesliga club RB Leipzig, was put through on goal by Heung-Min Son, but Werner saw his shot well saved by Sam Johnstone in the end (18’).

The next opportunity of not to score for either side in the first half came to Spurs in stoppage time. Uruguayan midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur unleashed an effort on goal of his own after receiving the ball from James Maddison, but his effort missed the target (45+1’).

Half time did come with Spurs and Crystal Palace level at 0 – 0 in this Premier League match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Spurs had the first opportunities to break the deadlock in the second half. Son Heung-Min was denied twice in as many minutes. The South Korean forward had a shot on goal blocked (53’), before another effort a minute later hit the post (54’).

However, it was to be Crystal Palace who took the lead with just over half an hour of the game remaining. Eberechi Eze was the goal scorer, with the midfielder finding the top right corner of Guglielmo Vicario’s net thanks to a spectacular free-kick (59’).

There was almost an immediate response from the hosts, but Spurs forward Timo Werner was denied by a fantastic save from Palace stopper Sam Johnstone. This opportunity came just a couple of minutes after Eze’s opening goal for the visitors (62’).

After being denied on a number of occasions, parity was finally restored with barely more than ten minutes of the game remaining on the day. Timo Werner, who had recently missed a couple of opportunities for his team, finally found the back of the net for the equaliser from close range after receiving an excellent pass into his feet from Brennan Johnson (77’).

It was to be a tremendous and swift comeback for Postecoglou’s Lilywhites, who managed to score again to take the lead for the first time in the contest at 2 – 1 just moments after they had found the leveller. This time it was Spurs’ Argentine World Cup Winning central defender Cristian Romero who found the back of Sam Johnstone’s net thanks to a powerful header into the bottom left corner following a ball into the box from James Maddison (80’).

Now that the turnaround from Spurs was now complete, they began to dominate the game even more, going on to extend their lead by two goals to 3 – 1 with just a couple of minutes of normal time remaining. It was Son Heung-Min who found the bottom right corner of the net, and it was another assist in this Premier League game from former Nottingham Forest forward Brennan Johnson (88’).

This is indeed how this game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium ended, with Spurs earning a deserved three points thanks to what was, in the end, a comfortable 3 – 1 Premier League victory in North London for Ange Postecoglou’s side.

Spurs dominated possession throughout the game, with them having no less than 78.2% of the ball compared to 21.8% for Oliver Glasner’s Crystal Palace. As for their efforts on target, the home side was also superior, with 6 of their 14 finding the target compared to 1 from 4 for the visiting Eagles.

Following the game, this is what Tottenham Hotspur Boss Ange Postecoglou had to say (via Tottenham Hotspur’s Official Website): “It was a difficult game for us. They sat very deep, and we had to be patient. I felt like we were working them, and we know we’re not going to stop until the 100th minute. I felt at some point they would break.

“A goal would have helped that process and we had a couple of chances in the first half to do that. I still felt we were really disciplined in our approach and some of our football was making them work hard enough, which we needed to do.

“Obviously, when you then concede, that was disappointing, but it was the only time they really got into our half. Then, you’re looking for a reaction, and the reaction was outstanding.

“What I did know is as long as we persisted and kept our belief, we would score. I really believed that. We had opportunities before our first goal, again, a great impact from the subs, Brennan winning the ball, Timo, I thought he had a really good game, he was aggressive, taking on his full-back, he missed the chance in the first half which he was disappointed with, but for that crucial goal he’s in the right area, winger to winger and we get the goal – something we work on every day.”

This game saw Spurs score in 38 consecutive matches in the Premier League – the same as a full top-flight season.

Next up for Spurs is a trip to Villa Park for a crucial game in the race for the top four as they look to close the gap on Unai Emery’s Aston Villa when the two teams meet in B6 on Sunday, 10th March 2024 in what will be a 13:30 kick-off.

This is followed by a trip to Craven Cottage to face Marco Silva’s Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday, 16th March 2024, in what is set to be a 17:30 kick-off. Then, following the March international break, Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs will welcome Rob Edwards’ Luton Town to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in what will be a 15:00 kick-off on Saturday 30th March 2024.

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