A double from Eberechi Eze gave Crystal Palace all three points at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Our homecoming from Norway after reaching the Europa League Final on Thursday never really got going for us as the Eagles’ forward struck twice either side of the half-time break. It was the first time in 10 Premier League games that we hadn’t beaten Palace in N17 and they completed their first-ever league double over us.
One positive note on the day was the return to action of Heung-Min Son, who had missed the previous seven matches through injury, although we did lose Dejan Kulusevski to injury early in the contest.
Ange Postecoglou made eight changes from Thursday night's memorable win over Bodo/Glimt with Pedro Porro, Rodrigo Bentancur and Kulusevski the only players to retain their places in the starting XI. Bentancur became the 41st player to lead us out as captain from the start in a Premier League game, while Antonin Kinsky made his first start in the league since 2 February.
It was a tough afternoon for us in the north London sunshine though as Palace controlled much of the game and carved out numerous chances, particularly in the first half. With just three minutes gone Tyrick Mitchell got a touch on the end of Daniel Munoz’s cross to the far post but Kinsky was able to gather the ball low down, while we were reprieved five minutes later as Palace had the ball in the net through Ismaila Sarr after a well-worked move but it was ruled out by VAR for offside in the build-up. At the other end, Kulusevski bundled his way through a couple of challenges on the edge of the box only to see his shot blocked for a corner but then had to come off just 19 minutes into the game following a strong tackle out on the right flank, with Mikey Moore taking his place.
Palace were creating a lot from down their right flank and, after Kinsky had made a great save to deny Jean-Philippe Mateta in the 25th minute, Munoz was twice in down the right, crashing a shot against the crossbar first of all before then, for some reason, trying to find Mateta when clear with just Kinsky to beat, only to overhit the pass. Jefferson Lerma then had a header saved by Kinsky, Sarr’s effort was deflected over by a superb Ben Davies block and Chris Richards was also denied with a header by our Czech goalkeeper as Palace applied relentless pressure. They had another goal disallowed just before the break when Maxence Lacroix’s header hit Marc Guehi’s arm on its way in but when Eze slotted home in first-half stoppage time after Munoz had streaked away once again down the flank and squared to the Palace forward, this one stood and the Eagles went in front. We tried to respond before the break, Pedro Porro lining up a free-kick out wide on the left but his effort just cleared the bar and skimmed off the top of the net.
Three minutes after the interval we fell further behind with a goal started and finished by Eze. He collected the ball deep inside his own half before finding Sarr with a sublime pass and then running unchecked to the edge of the area where he received a return from Sarr and slammed the ball into the bottom corner. Kinsky then made a good save from Mateta before keeping out Kevin Danso’s glancing header from a Palace corner, while we had a good sight of goal at the other end but Pape Matar Sarr headed wide from Pedro Porro’s excellent centre to the back post.
Son’s return to action gave us a little bit of a lift and he saw a couple of shots blocked as we looked for a way back, but it was the visitors with the best chance to add to the scoreline when substitute Eddie Nketiah got clear deep into stoppage time, only to be denied by a fine stop by Kinsky.