Spurs reaching new levels of despair as Eagles ramp up Lilywhites' creeping dread
- By Yann Tear at the TH Stadium
- 19 hours ago
- 3 min read
Premier League
Tottenham (1) 1 Solanke 34 van de Ven s/o 39
Crystal Palace (3) 3 Sarr pen 40, 52 Strand Larsen 47
In case anyone had not yet got the message, this Spurs team really is bang in trouble.
Home form has been disastrous for them in the Premier League and once again they played out a game to a backdrop of quiet despair and emptying stands.
It's now 11 games without a win in the league after their ninth loss at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. For now, they remain outside the bottom three but only have a single point advantage over Nottingham Forest and West Ham.
With three defeats in three games for Igor Tudor, there has been no manager bounce. If anything, things have got worse. Thomas Frank will be somewhere enjoying a satisfying glass of wine.
Tottenham did take the lead but then contrived to conceded three times in 12 minutes and lose their skipper to a straight red card to give up the equalising penalty.
The Eagles, in need of a few points themselves to see off any remaining doubts about their league status, played more like the Palace we knew in the first half of the season, with Adam Wharton pulling the strings and Ismailia Sarr running amok up front.
When Spurs plundered a 1-0 win at Selhurst Park in December they could hardly have anticipated they would then go two months and 10 Premier League games without a win - but that was the one of the many dire statistics attached to them ahead of this one.
Another was that they had only won two of 14 home games all season. It's bad enough losing 4-1 to great rivals Arsenal twice but to be so consistently off key has been no kind of reward for the faithful fans massed on the vertiginous south stand.
Within minutes the team's nervy state of mind was exposed when Wharton fired in a shot during an early raid that Guglielmo Vicario did well to turn aside. But the midfielder was just getting started.
The Eagles suffered an early blow when Daniel Munoz was forced off with a shoulder injury - having landed heavily after being felled by Souza, the £13m Brazilian import from Santos making his home debut.
There was to be more agony for Oliver Glasner's men when they were denied the opening goal by the flimsiest of offside margins. Sarr looped a shot over Vicario with a deflection off Pedro Porro. but was adjudged just ahead of the ball played in from the right by Jaydee Canvot.
The signs were there that this was going to be Tottenham's day and soon after, Archie Gray - scorer of the winner when they last met at Selhurst - cut a ball back from the byline for Dom Solanke to put away.
Home joy soon took a hit, though, as van de Ven saw red after pulling back Sarr by the arm when the Palace striker was about to fire goalwards after haring into the box. The Ivorian coolly put away the spot-kick and we were level again.
"Say hello to Millwall," chimed the visiting fans, mindful of the potential for seeing the men from N17 encounter Palace's neighbours in the Championship next season.
And their team was in front before the break when the Eagles forced a turnover high up the pitch and Wharton - back to his elegant best - threaded a ball through for Jorgen Strand Larsen to hammer home through Vicario's legs.
It couldn't possibly get any worse for Spurs, except it was about to. Another superbly weighted pass from Wharton exposed the frail Spurs rearguard once more and Sarr poked home to make it 3-1.
Spurs showed a bit of spirit after the break but could not find a way back. Solanke did test out Dean Henderson after racing in from the left after a quick throw-in but the Eagles keeper was equal to it.
This was another miserable night for Spurs fans. They gave a warm reception to former player Brennan Johnson when he came on as a sub but there was not much from their own team to lift those flagging spirits.
Spurs: (3-4-2-1) Vicario - Joao Palhinha, Danso, van de Ven - Porro (Simons 74), Gray, Pape Matar Sarr, Souza (Gallagher 43) - Kolo Muani (Bissouma 43), Tel - Solanke (Richarlison 74)
Eagles: (3-4-2-1) Henderson - Richards, Riad, Canvot - Munoz (Clyne 14), Wharton (Hughes 81), Kamada, Mitchell - Ismaila Sarr, Guessand (Johnson 67) - Strand Larsen (Uche 81)
Attendance: 60,213
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