Crystal Palace hosted a very important Premier League gameweek 12 fixture against Tottenham Hotspur at Selhurst Park. There were only 2000 lucky supporters on the ground but they created an almost full house atmosphere which benefited the home side.
Tottenham drew 1-1 against Crystal Palace on Sunday night and they are holding the top spot with 25 points in 12 matches. With this draw, they are now 11 matches unbeaten streak in the league since the defeat at home against Everton on the opening match of the season.
Harry Kane scored his ninth Premier League goal of the season, but Jeffrey Schlupp’s equaliser gave Palace a crucial one point.
Tottenham could not win mostly because of Crystal Palace goalkeeper Vicente Guaita, he made three or four world-class saves. Although he could be at fault for the Spurs goal.
A weekend of dropping points from top to bottom Spurs could not capitalise on the defeat of Chelsea and the stalemate in the Manchester derby.
But thanks to the draw at Craven Cottage against Fulham, Liverpool could not go at the top of the table either so Tottenham remains at the top of the table with the same amount of points.
The next match for the Spurs is going to be against Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday night. That match will give us a hint that is Tottenham a title contender for this season or not.
Crystal Palace 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur Team News:
Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho made only one change from the North London derby Xl. He started with Tanguy Ndombele in place of Giovani Lo Celso.
Mourinho went with his favourite formation of 4-2-3-1 where Son Heung-min, Harry Kane, and Steven Bergwijn was the front three and the most reliable player of Spurs, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg at the heart of the midfield.
Crystal Palace coach Roy Hodgson started the match with 4-4-2 formation and he made no change from their big victory against West Brom and their last match heroes Wilfried Zaha and Christian Benteke were the front two.
Crystal Palace Xl: Vicente Guaita, Clyne, Kouyate, Cahil, Van Aanholt, Schlupp, Milivojevic, MacArthur, Eze, Zaha, Benteke
Tottenham Hotspur Xl: Hugo Lloris, Aurier, Alderweireld, Dier, Reguilon, Hojbjerg, Sissoko, Ndombele, Son, Kane, Bergwijn
Crystal Palace 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur Analysis:
Spurs started the game very promisingly but they were denied by Guaita’s excellent display between the sticks. He made great saves to keep out Tanguy Ndombele’s shot and a Kane header.
Harry Kane struck in the 23rd minute with a low long-range shot that deceived Guaita. Kane took a pass from Son and skimmed in a low right-foot shot that swerved and skidded off the turf and went through the keeper.
The closest Palace came to an equaliser before the break was just before the interval when Eberechi Eze’s deft right-foot curler beat Hugo Lloris but hit the outside of the post.
Tottenham decided to sit back and defend their lead in the 2nd half with the confidence of the previous four consecutive clean sheets.
Schlupp scooped one good chance over the bar, and Christian Benteke should have done better with a header.
But Spurs could not keep five consecutive Premier League clean sheets, as Palace got their reward when Eze’s wickedly curling delivery from a free-kick was not dealt with by Lloris, and when the ball came to Schupp he fired it in.
Tottenham went all out for the late win, but Guaita was inspired in the goal for Palace. First, he kept out Kane’s glancing header from Serge Aurier’s driven cross, then he flew through the air to beat out Dier’s free-kick.
Notable Performance:
Vincent Guaita(Gk) (8/10): Kept Palace in the game and earned Roy Hodgson one point by himself. He could be fault for the Spurs’ goal but he made it up with other excellent saves.
Harry Kane(CF) (7/10): Scored an excellent long-range swerving goal and overall distribution was very good.
Jeffrey Schlupp(LM) (7/10): Scored the crucial goal to earn Crystal Palace one point in front of a 2000 roaring crowd.
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