Spurs enjoy trouble-free evening as Crystal Palace pay the price for Mateta's early red card
Premier League
Tottenham Hotspur (1) 2 Gray 25, Van Hecke 73
Crystal Palace (0) 0 Mateta s/o 12
Spurs made it three wins in a row to further distance themselves from the moribund Spurs of the opening weeks of the campaign as they took full advantage of an early dismissal to ease to a comfortable win.
We were only 12 minutes in when the odds tilted massively in their favour when Jean-Philippe Mateta received a straight red card for planting his right boot into the heel of Micky van de Ven as the pair chased the ball.
After that, Spurs were never less than comfortable and always looked likely to get the win which consigns the struggling Eagles to finishing the weekend in the bottom three. Tottenham are now basking in mid-table.
Mateta's woe is very much in keeping with the Frenchman's season which has seen him cast as a hero-turned-villain in the months since grabbing the historic winner in the Conference League final in Leipzig.
He has made no secret of his desire to be elsewhere and the casually reckless nature of the challenge spoke of a man whose mind is still not quite focused. It was not malicious, just clumsy.
With the extra man and pretty much the whole game in which to profit against the statistically weakest defence in the Prem, the Eagles were pretty soon undone - Archie Gray at the back stick nodding a Mo Kudus corner past Dean Henderson for his first goal since February.
The Eagles worked hard to stay in the game and Henderson's strong arm kept out a fierce shot from Dominic Solanke early in the second half to keep hopes just about alive.
And they might have made it 1-1 when Dwight McNeil got on the end of a cross in to the penalty area with a left foot volley which a back-tracking Solanke was able to block.
but the Lilywhites always looked likely to bag a second goal. Half time Pedro Porro got in behind the Palace defence to angle a shot wide and Mathys Tel wasn't far away with a fine daisy-cutter.
The pressure finally told in minute 73 - with Jan Paul van getting on the end of a Fernandes cross from close range. Although Henderson pulled off an incredible save - pushing the ball onto the bar - it fell perfectly for the prone defender to nod over the line at the second attempt.
They did not need to do any more after that, though Conor Gallagher almost made it 3-0 - Henderson's reflexes again sparing Palace as they remained under the cosh until the very end.
Mo Kudus, lively throughout, had a goal disallowed and he should also have put away a great chance after young sub Luca Williams-Barnett prised open the Eagles defence with dart down the left. There was also another welcome cameo for Dejan Kulusevski, who forced Henderson into yet another save with a good shy at the stumps late on.
Spurs: (4-2-3-1) Kinsky - Gray (Porro h/t), van Hecke, van de Ven, Robertson (Udogie 77) (Kulusevski 77) - Mateus Fernandes, Tonali - Kudus, Marmoush, Tel (Williams-Barnett 88) - Solanke (Gallagher 66)
Eagles: (3-4-2-1) Henderson - Richards, Disasi, Canvot - Mingueza (Khalaili 60), Wharton (Lerma 88), Kamada (Hughes 88), Mitchell - McNeil (Osorio 77), Pino (Nketiah 60) - Mateta
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