It’s three wins on the bounce for Tottenham Hotspur! Spurs earned a 2-0 win over a ten-man Crystal Palace at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, picking up goals from Archie Gray and Jan Paul van Hecke, exactly whom everyone predicted would score pre-match. Spurs were gifted an early advantage after Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta was sent off for a poor tackle on Micky van de Ven early in the match. Spurs then went about the arduous task of breaking down a bunkered Palace defense for the rest
of the game.
Archie Gray made the breakthrough goal with a 25th minute free back post header off of a corner kick from Mohammed Kudus, and Jan Paul van Hecke bundled in a rebound effort off his own header to put Spurs up 2-0 in the 73rd minute. And, excitingly, Spurs got a short cameo at the end of the match from academy graduate Luca Williams-Barnett, 18, who made his Premier League debut.
After going winless in their first six matches, Spurs have now won three straight matches and at the time of this article’s publication were all the way up to 8th in the table. Not too shabby!
Here are my match reactions from today’s win.
Match reactions
- We didn’t get a reason why Pedro Porro started on the bench for Archie Gray. Maybe a knock? Dunno. Felt like we could’ve used Porro’s dynamism against a bunkered Palace defense.
- Palace started the match playing absolute haramball — sit deep, force Spurs to break them down. Considering Spurs’ proven inability (thus far) to turn touches in the box into goals and big chances, it’s a viable strategy.
- I have absolutely no complaints, obviously, with the red on Mateta. It was a horrible tackle — caught Micky full on the Achilles. I suspect Mateta didn’t expect Micky to blow by him so fast and it was obviously not intentional, but it was a deserved sending off — and with him goes Palace’s most potent attacker. A real gift for Spurs so early in the match.
- If I’m Crystal Palace I would simply not leave Archie Gray wide open at the back post for an open header off a corner kick. Great goal, and the team celebration for Archie was delightful.
- Watching Sandro Tonali in this match, I’m finally starting to see what De Zerbi sees in him. He was outstanding in the counterpress, and Fernandes covering at the six just opens him up to do all of that counterpressing well.
- What is this calm I’m feeling after watching the first half of a Tottenham Hotspur match? It feels alien, almost bizarre. I’m not used to it.
- Dom Solanke’s big problem is not his shot — he shoots the ball amazingly hard even if it’s often straight at the keeper — it’s his difficulty actually getting a shot off that’s the main issue. It’s why he’s so frustrating to watch and also why the few goals he scores are often amazing.
- I don’t know whether Pedro Porro’s halftime sub means Archie picked up a knock or if it was a planned sub, but Porro was really, really good in the second half. His ability to pick out a pass from deep is a wonderful addition.
- Hecke of a goal from Jan Paul! I feel like he’s better in the air than his reputation, and while the initial header didn’t go in it was a good heads-up effort to put the ball in off the ground on the rebound effort. JPVH is currently Spurs’ top scorer in the league (which uhhhhhhh is probably suboptimal but whatever).
- Omar Marmoush didn’t do a ton in terms of shots, but he played some really really wonderful combination plays in and around the Palace box.
- Can we just take a brief moment and acknowledge Mathys Tel? He had another really nice match today, bright in possession, sharp with his passing, and perhaps unlucky not to get a goal.
- WE GOT A LUCA WILLIAMS-BARNET CAMEO!! He had one failed dribble attempt, nearly got a shot off before extra time, and broke a couple of ankles in Palace’s box before firing a ball to Mo Kudus who somehow missed an open net from two feet away. That kid looks awesome. Why aren’t we playing him more?
- Also really happy for Kulusevski who got another late cameo, looked… actually fast, and rocketed a shot off the palms of Palace keeper Henderson.
- It is fun to win football games and play well, and there are still signs that Tottenham can still improve. It took a while to get here but gosh isn’t it fun to enjoy watching Spurs again?
- Up next: a trip to Leeds. Never an easy match, but would you bet against Spurs at the moment? I wouldn’t.
