Match Report: Clinical Spurs Weather Palace Storm to Secure Win
Tottenham's welcome of Crystal Palace was the hosts' 200th London derby in Premier League history and they made sure to secure maximum points in this one. The visitors had the chance to open the scoring early on after Mousa Dembélé fouled Marouane Chamakh in the box, only for Jason Puncheon to spectacularly blaze his penalty high and wide.
Palace were perhaps the more dominant of the two sides in the first half, but they failed to make their superiority count and were made to pay 5 minutes after the interval as Christian Eriksen rifled into the roof of the net from close range following Emmanuel Adebayor's flick on. All 3 points were sealed midway through the second half when Jermain Defoe held off Jonathan Parr to put the ball past Julian Speroni.
Come the full-time whistle, it was little more than Spurs deserved. The north London outfit ended the encounter with the lion's share of possession - 68% to 32% - and ensured they made their chances count having had 10 attempts to Palace's 14. The victory saw the club extend their unbeaten run to 5 in the league on the back of Tim Sherwood's appointment and moved Spurs onto 40 points as they continue their quest for a top 4 finish.
As for Palace, the loss, coupled with Sunderland's win over Fulham, saw them drop to the foot of the table. Had Puncheon netted from the spot early on, the result could have been very different, but the Eagles can take a lot of confidence from a battling performance at White Hart Lane. Chamakh in particular impressed for Tony Pulis' side, drawing the foul from Dembélé for the aforementioned penalty and winning an impressive 10 aerial duels, the most of every player on the pitch.
Against a centre-back of Michael Dawson's calibre, the defender boasting a WhoScored strength of 'aerial duels', Chamakh's input saw him secure a rating of 7.7 and ensured the Spurs defence were tested at every possible occasion over the 90 minutes. This is shown in that Vlad Chiriches (8.3) and Dawson (8.0) were the highest rated players in the victory.
However, while the hosts' backline turned out a clean sheet worthy performance, the display of youngster Nabil Bentaleb in midfield impressed too. The 19-year-old made the first Premier League start of his career against Palace and he came desperately close to marking the occasion with a goal, striking the woodwork from distance midway through the first half.
His outing mirrored that of a seasoned professional, not that of a player making only his 4th first team league appearance, as he attempted 106 passes, the most of any Spurs player in a single Premier League match this season, while picking out a teammate with 93% of those. This allowed for the team to hold onto the ball and contributed significantly to the overall pass success of the team (88%), their best return in a Premier League match this season. With a rating of 7.8, the teenager ranked behind only Chiriches and Dawson of every player and Sherwood was, unsurprisingly, full of praise for the young midfielder after the match.
While Palace executed more key passes than Spurs - 12 to 6 - the hosts created more clear-cut goalscoring opportunities - 4 to 1 - and netted 2 of those, highlighting a clinicality in front of goal that has perhaps been lacking at times this season. However, the Eagles would have been buoyed by their display as a collective unit regardless of the loss as they look to stave off the threat of relegation.
From a Spurs perspective, despite not performing at their best in the encounter, they showed exceptional strength in character to return to winning ways on the back of the 2-1 FA Cup defeat to Arsenal last weekend. The victory bolsters their credentials in the hunt for a top 4 finish and makes it 3 successive wins in the Premier League, a notable achievement considering the number of absentees in Sherwood's squad.
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