Crystal Palace vs Tottenham Hotspur. Premier League.
Selhurst ParkAttendance25,074.
Report and free match highlights as a Joel Ward own goal and Heung-min Son strike extend Spurs' fast start to the season; Jordan Ayew set up nervy finale but Ange Postecoglou has won more points than any manager in their first 10 Premier League games
Saturday 28 October 2023 07:16, UK
James Maddison was Tottenham's game changer again as a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace moved them five points clear at the top of the Premier League, their biggest ever lead in the competition.
Tottenham's entertainers were tamed during a low-key first half in south London but Maddison's cross-shot soon after the interval forced Joel Ward to turn into his own net.
The playmaker then showed brilliant footwork in the box before feeding sub Brennan Johnson to pull the ball back for in-form Heung-min Son to add a second and his eighth of the season.
Maddison may not have achieved an official goal involvement to become the first player to register a goal or assist in each of his first six Premier League away games for a club but his influence was plain to see.
There was late drama when Jordan Ayew set up a frantic finish with his super strike four minutes into injury-time and Matheus Franca lashed wide with virtually the last kick of the game, but Spurs came through for a victory which means boss Ange Postecoglou has secured a record 26 points from his first 10 games as a Premier League manager.
Spurs' nearest competitors Arsenal, at home to Sheffield United on Saturday, and Manchester City, in the derby at Old Trafford on Sunday - live on Sky Sports - will be aiming to trim Spurs' lead over the weekend, but Postecoglou's unbeaten side have shown they can find different ways to win this week, after backing up Monday's victory over Fulham.
There were moments during the opening 45 minutes when it looked like Roy Hodgson could be the one celebrating on his landmark night, and there was almost a late twist, but his 500th game as a manager in English football saw his initially disciplined side eventually broken down and ultimately fall short in the final third.
Palace stay 11th, as close to the relegation zone as the top four in terms of points, but are likely to fall over the coming days.
Tottenham, free-scoring this season, were restricted throughout the first half. Palace, out to deliver a response after being hammered 4-0 at Newcastle last weekend, were mean in defence but created the more threatening early moments themselves, with Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario tested twice in quick succession early on as Ayew and Odsonne Edouard hit the target.
Spurs' best moment in that first period fell to Maddison on 17 minutes but he lashed wildly over the bar from Richarlison's knockdown. The Brazilian sent a tame low drive wide soon after and then there was a 20-minute wait for another shot - a blocked one from Palace's Odsonne Edouard after a corner.
It was far from thrilling but it was job done for the home side at the break.
The second half started in similar fashion, with Palace again looking the more likely, with Edouard inches away from connecting with Jeffrey Schlupp's cutback. But Ward's own goal was a hammer blow. Turned to face his net, his instinctive decision to stick out a leg towards Maddison's fast-moving drive was only going to end one way.
Marc Guehi headed a corner wide after Edouard's shot was deflected over as Palace searched for an immediate response but Spurs were nudging up the gears and they turned on the style when Maddison's slick play in the box allowed Johnson to tee up Son for a simple finish.
It could have got worse for the hosts had VAR seen a handball shout against Nathaniel Clyne differently when Johnson nodded the ball against his arm and with Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven commanding at the centre of the Spurs defence, there seemed little prospect of a turnaround. Postecoglou was even able to send Rodrigo Bentancur on for his long-awaited return from an eight-month ACL injury.
Ayew's brilliant strike across Vicario - eventually given after a long VAR check for handball as he controlled it - transformed the mood, though. Franca could have lifted the roof off. But his swipe under pressure from Pedro Porro brought relief to the Spurs travelling support who are revelling in their side's best start to a Premier League season.
Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou to Sky Sports: "Let them dream. It's what being a football fan is all about. It's fair to say that this lot have suffered a fair bit so I'm certainly not going to dampen that."
Speaking about the performance in his press conference: "I really like the way we handled tonight. They're a very well drilled team defensively. I knew it wasn't going to be an open game with bags of chances. The boys were patient and found the gaps in the ways we spoke about. And then real composure when we got ahead. A bit of drama at the end but I thought the lads handled it really well."
Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson to Sky Sports: "I thought our first-half performance was good. I thought we gave them a good game throughout. We are playing a good team. When you are 2-0 down it becomes very difficult. We took some chances and put some players on the field who have not played much for us and had a look at them. Right to the end, the team was fighting. We scored a late goal, had lots of corner kicks and were pressing. I am not disappointed in the performance but I am in the result of course.
"I trust the team and the players and in the first half I thought our structure was good. We made life difficult for Tottenham. At the break we were satisfied. But when the first goal goes in with their ability to keep hold of the ball it makes it difficult. We are playing against the team top of the league. We were trying and wanted to do it, but they are not top of the league for nothing. It was easy for them at 2-0 to take all the time in the world on the ball.
"Today's performance was very different to the one last week. My overriding feeling is disappointment that we couldn't build on the first-half performance."
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Hodgson also gave a damning verdict on the performances of his substitutes, particularly the young players Naouirou Ahamada, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi and Matheus Franca.
"The first goal produces the second and then it was very difficult and that's when we start putting on players on the field, people who have not really played in the first team, Jes, Ahamada, Franca. We lost that intensity we were able to do in the first half and in the end it became easy for them to see the game through.
"Maybe the young subs we'd like to think we can believe in and will help us to a different level didn't show that, they didn't do anything for us at all really, we became much weaker when I made the substitutions. Unfortunately sometimes with a game drifting away from you I was tempted to do that. We need to see these players and if they are able to help us out. We certainly didn't get any help today. We got a lot of help from the first group of players, I thought they were very good.
"We are a little bit reliant on the bench in terms of our attacking player on the players brought into the cub who are as yet untried and untested and this was a tough game for them to go into."
On Franca, he added: "They need more time. I feel sorry for Franca. For some reason people have tried to imbue him with qualities we can't expect from him. He's 19 years of age, with a handful of games in Brazil behind him and we're asking him to go out and play Tottenham, the team running away at the top of the Premier League.
"The intensity ,strength, power everything we're going to have to work on and build up. Jes is another very good example. There's plenty of talent there. Jes is a little bit further forward than some of the other ones because he has got a couple of games under his belt and he's learning on the job. But we have to keep working with these players in training."
Crystal Palace next travel to Burnley on November 4, kick-off 3pm, before hosting Everton the following weekend on November 11, kick-off also 3pm.
Tottenham are back on Sky Sports on Monday Night Football at home to Chelsea on November 6, kick-off 8pm, and then travel to Wolves in the lunch-time fixture on November 11, kick-off 12.30pm.
