Tottenham Hotspur fell to a ninth defeat in their 18 home games in the league so far this season and dropped to 17th in the table as Crystal Palace completed the Premier League double over their London rivals in a dominant 2-0 win.
These two clubs have little to play for in the final weeks of the league campaign and, with them both having cup finals coming up over the next 10 days, there was not much jeopardy about Sunday’s game — other than the possibility of key men picking up injuries. As if to ram home that point, Spurs coach Ange Postecoglou made eight changes from the side that sealed a place in the Europa League final with victory away to Bodo/Glimt of Norway on Thursday.
Palace, FA Cup finalists next Saturday, were the more attacking side throughout and had two goals disallowed before Eberechi Eze scored two that did count either side of half-time.
That final against fellow Premier League strugglers Manchester United a week Wednesday is the priority for Tottenham, so Dejan Kulusevski going off in the first half here will be a worry for Postecoglou. One positive was the return of Son Heung-min, who made his first appearance since the beginning of April.
Jay Harris breaks down the match.
What did Postecoglou learn from the changes?
Postecoglou’s starting XI looked very different from the one that beat Bodo/Glimt in the second leg of their Europa League semi-final a few days ago.
Goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky made his first appearance since a 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa on February 9 and ahead of him, the entire back four from Thursday were rested, apart from Pedro Porro. Archie Gray made only his third midfield start for the club, with Mathys Tel, Wilson Odobert and Kulusevski forming a dysfunctional front three.
Kinsky made some good saves to deny Chris Richards, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Eddie Nketiah but looked awkward in possession. When he joined in January, Kinsky looked to have a far superior passing range to their first-choice goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario — but today the 22-year-old kept putting himself in trouble with bad touches and misplaced passes.
Gray also had a difficult afternoon, the latest part of a strange debut season for the 19-year-old, during which he has been shifted about to fill gaps when other players have been injured. He started brightly, anticipating a loose pass into Eze, striding forward with the ball and finding Tel on the edge of the box, but after that, he struggled to make an impact. When Gray was moved to play right-back after Porro’s substitution midway through the second half, he looked shaky under pressure and booted multiple passes out of play.
Centre-back Kevin Danso produced an erratic performance, too, but maybe we should not be surprised. This group of players are thrown together sporadically without a chance to perform as a unit regularly and build chemistry.
It has been clear for weeks who makes Postecoglou’s preferred XI.
None of the fringe players who featured on Sunday did anything to enhance their claims for an unexpected start in that final in the Spanish city of Bilbao.
Fears over Kulusevski’s fitness
Some players are more important than others in Spurs’ squad because there are no quality alternatives if they are out.
Dominic Solanke is integral at leading the line and defending from the front, Micky van de Ven’s incredible recovery pace is crucial to Postecoglou’s high-line game and Kulusevski provides the creativity.
With Lucas Bergvall and James Maddison already ruled out of the Europa League final due to injury, it was crucial that Kulusevski built up match sharpness as he continues his comeback from almost two months out with a foot issue while coming through this game unscathed.
Instead, disaster apparently struck.
When Kulusevski took a shot in the 12th minute under pressure from Will Hughes, he looked in pain for a few seconds but continued. A couple of minutes later, though, he was caught late by Palace captain Marc Guehi. Kulusevski dropped to the turf and received treatment from Tottenham’s medical staff on his right knee.
Standing up, the 25-year-old tried to run but signalled to the bench that he could not continue. He walked straight down the tunnel, accompanied by a member of the backroom staff and team-mate Yves Bissouma.
Kulusevski has only returned to the starting line-up this month and today’s match was supposed to give him valuable game time. Now, Spurs face the prospect of competing in a major final without their three most creative midfielders.
Maddison and Kulusevski both offer a goal threat, and have scored three times between them against United this season. As for Bergvall, he has been the team’s most consistent performer since Christmas.
Injuries have disrupted Tottenham’s season all through it, so perhaps it was inevitable that the curse would strike them again.
Left-sided weakness exploited
Daniel Munoz was a constant menace for Palace. Whenever the visitors’ right wing-back received the ball, he darted forward into space and whipped dangerous crosses into the box.
Munoz was up against Djed Spence, who was Tottenham’s best player for a couple of months at the start of the year. Spence had been defensively solid, despite predominantly being playing at left-back when he is right-footed, and composed on the ball when he moved into central areas.
Spence has started the past nine Premier League games in a row but you get the suspicion that being overlooked for Destiny Udogie in the club’s Europa League ties has knocked his confidence.
Postecoglou encourages his full-backs to push forward but Spence was punished every time he did so on Sunday.
For Palace’s second goal, Eze received the ball in the centre of the pitch and poked it through for Ismaila Sarr, who was completely free on their right wing. Spence raced back and was able to block the forward’s shot but Sarr then set up Eze for a simple finish.
Spence is not completely to blame.
Palace manager Olivier Glasner’s 3-4-3 formation is designed to overload the opposition and too many times today Spence followed Sarr without anybody then picking up Munoz. The 24-year-old needed more help from Tel, substitute Mikey Moore and Tottenham’s central midfielders.
Ruben Amorim will have noted how much Spurs struggled to deal with Palace’s formation. Manchester United’s head coach uses a similar system, and Postecoglou has just over a week to devise an effective counterplan.
What did Postecoglou say?
Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Postecoglou said: “It was disappointing, we never really got into the game and we didn’t control it at any time. I’m disappointed. It’s clear we’re not anywhere near the level we need to be. We’re making changes and the guys are getting opportunities.”
What next for Spurs?
Friday, May 16: Aston Villa (Away), Premier League, 7.30pm UK, 2.30pm ET
(Top photo: John Walton/PA Images via Getty Images)