Palace secure first league win this season at expense of sorry Spurs

Crystal Palace (1) 1 v Tottenham Hotspur (0) 0

Mateta 31

By Kaz Mochlinski at Selhurst Park

Premier League

Matchweek 9

Crystal Palace secured a precious first win of the season in the Premier League, outbattling Tottenham Hotspur and scoring the only goal of the game at Selhurst Park to move out of the relegation places.

Without a league victory in their opening eight matches for the first time since the 1992-93 Premier League season - and having equalled their worst start to a top-flight campaign - Palace finally ended their awful run.

Jean-Philippe Mateta justified his return to the starting line-up for the first time in four weeks by taking his one clear chance for the winning goal, aided by a sweet assist from Eberechi Eze after half an hour.

It was Palace’s first goal this month - and just the sixth in a league game this season for the Premier League’s lowest scorers. But this time it proved to be enough to claim a vital three points.

No less key was a second clean sheet of this campaign to follow the only previous one achieved in the scoreless home draw against Manchester United, with another crucial contribution from goalkeeper Dean Henderson.

England’s new number one was superb in helping to stop a Spurs side that came to Selhurst Park as the Premier League’s second highest scorers with 18 goals in eight matches, behind only Manchester City.

However, Ange Postecoglou’s team struggled without their captain, Son Heung-min, who was ruled out with a muscle injury, missing both his leadership and his attacking threat.

In Son’s absence, teenager Mikey Moore made his full league debut, becoming at 17 years 77 days Tottenham’s youngest Premier League starter in 31 years - since Stephen Carr, another 17-year-old, in 1993.

That was Spurs’ sole change from the 4-1 mauling of West Ham United a week earlier, while Moore and James Maddison - making his 200th Premier League appearance - plus Destiny Udogie were the only three who also started Thursday’s 1-0 Europa League victory over AZ Alkmaar.

The Thursday to Sunday adjustment has for a long time been seen as notoriously problematic and it may have been part of the reason for Tottenham’s sluggish and sloppy showing in south London.

This was Spurs’ second consecutive Premier League away defeat, following the 3-2 reverse at Brighton & Hove Albion, and both have come after Europa League exertions three days earlier.

Although they have now won just one of their first five away matches in the league this season, much of this error-strewn Tottenham performance was the result of the Palace players’ energetic efforts to disrupt their visitors’ gameplan.

Despite possession stats in their favour of 33.8% versus 66.2%, Spurs were never comfortable playing out from the back in their usual way, repeatedly giving the ball away under pressure from Palace’s persistent pressing.

It led to the decisive goal when Micky van de Ven was dispossessed and Daniel Muñoz was able to put in a dangerous cross from the right wing, which Eze beautifully with one touch moved on to Mateta to finish left-footed.

The Frenchman’s first start in a month and Palace’s first goal in October were probably not a coincidence. Mateta’s 17th Premier League goal of 2024 means that only Erling Haaland (with 24) and Cole Palmer (with 21) have netted more during this calendar year.

Mateta may have come back from this summer’s Olympics a little jaded after leading France to a memorable silver medal, but his scoring is again proving as essential for his club as it did for his country in the Paris Games.

Palace’s front three of Mateta, Eze and Ismaïla Sarr gave van de Ven such a desperately uncomfortable afternoon that, in addition to losing the ball to Muñoz for the winning goal, the Dutch defender came close to conceding a penalty and getting a red card in the second half.

After Eze danced around Pedro Porro in the penalty area, van de Ven stopped him with an outstretched arm across the winger’s chest, but the referee, Darren Bond, deemed that the contact was insufficient for a spot kick to be given.

Bond subsequently showed van de Ven just a yellow card when Ismaïla Sarr was hauled down as he ran clear onto Mateta’s header-on of a Tyrick Mitchell long ball, ruling that a goal-scoring opportunity had not been denied because the move looked to be going wide rather than directly down the centre.

Conversely, van de Ven came closest to equalising for Tottenham, only three minutes after Mateta’s goal, getting hold of the ball in a penalty box scramble from Maddison’s inswinging left corner and hitting a shot which deflected off Brennan Johnson onto the near post.

Palace were also twice saved by terrific stops from Henderson, either side of half-time. Late in the first half, Moore played in Udogie on the left wing and the cross was met first-time left-footed by Maddison, but the goalkeeper dived full-length to turn it away.

Then, in the second half, Johnson escaped down the right wing and had time to look up and direct the ball across for Dejan Kulusevski running in at the near post to strike first-time, but again Henderson reacted rapidly and was perfectly positioned to make the block.

Thereafter, Spurs created disappointingly little of note, and it was Guglielmo Vicario at the other end who was the busier of the two goalkeepers, making smart diving saves from shots by Ismaïla Sarr, Eze and Adam Wharton.

Eze had thought that he had doubled Palace’s advantage with a break from the halfway line in the opening exchanges of the second half, only for the score to be ruled out for a very marginal offside, confirmed by VAR.

And Wharton will have been disappointed that his curling effort late on did not produce his first goal for Crystal Palace, although it did not ultimately alter the outcome as the home side held on to their lead.

This game might not get added to the list of Selhurst Park’s most memorable matches as the stadium continues the 2024 celebrations of its centenary, but in this moment the victory mattered enormously and it was greeted vociferously enough by the Palace fans to make the old stands shake.

Having halted their run of three defeats in a row, against a Tottenham team which had won seven of their previous eight games in all competitions, Palace may be pleased that their next home match is another London derby, facing Fulham.

Their troubled start to the season began with three winless capital confrontations in the league, but the Palace manager, Oliver Glasner, sees the explanation elsewhere as he dampened speculation about Gareth Southgate and Graham Potter being among potential candidates to replace him.

“All our previous performances were ok, but we missed a little bit the thing we showed today. We showed courage, we showed intensity, we showed bravery in how we pressed them. And maybe this was what we were missing.

“All the credit to the players, how they dealt with the situation, when everyone was emphasising no win, no win, no win. They stayed cool, they always had a good mood, very good training, and that’s why now we all have the reward today.

“I mention it all the time that we have very late signings, no pre-season together… so don’t judge them after three or four weeks. Today was the third time the back three played together. We all agree, it looks better and better from game to game.

“Trevoh Chalobah played really well, defending very good, very aggressive, and he had no pre-season, no team training. We always believed in our players, in our squad.

“But on the other side is also now like we tried to be when we lost not always below the floor, now is not that we raised our game and we are the best in the world…

“Regarding the intensity and the mindset, this should be our benchmark.”

And the Austrian added: “We know now what it takes to win against the top teams. For all of us it’s going to be a good feeling going to bed after this.”

Postecoglou felt that “It was just a game where we needed to stay composed. Not fall into the trap of playing the game in the way that they wanted to play it. But it turned into a game that was just a battle after a battle, and duels, and stop-starts, waiting around.

“We need to be a lot more clear-headed about how we deal with that, rather than fall into the trap of doing what we did today. It was always going to be a big game for Palace. They were obviously desperate to get a win today. When that happens, it doesn’t matter how.”

And the Spurs head coach noted: “Some of it is out of your control. Because they’re obviously going to be pretty aggressive in their approach, which is not a surprise. But… it wasn’t really a great game for anybody out there from our perspective…

“Even in that environment we didn’t have to lose our composure. It just seems like we kind of wanted everything to sort of run smoothly, and you know it doesn’t, especially in a game like today… Because the game was always an arm-wrestle.“

While Tottenham disappointingly dropped down into eighth place and the mid-table regions of the Premier League, Crystal Palace did not disguise their delight at climbing up into 17th. What a difference one position can make.

Palace are still a long way from the side which finished last season so spectacularly with six wins in seven matches, when Glasner joked that the summer may have come at the wrong time. They no longer have Mateta’s fellow Olympic medallist, Michael Olise.

But with Mateta scoring and Eze creating again, plus Marc Guéhi and Henderson staying strong at the other end, Palace will be exceptionally happy with just one victory for the time being.

Crystal Palace: (3-4-3) Henderson - Lacroix, Guéhi, Chalobah - Muñoz, Wharton (Kamada 88), Lerma (Hughes 22), Mitchell - Ismaïla Sarr (Nketiah 67), Mateta, Eze

Tottenham Hotspur: (4-2-3-1) Vicario - Porro, Romero, van de Ven, Udogie - Bissouma (Bentancur 87), Maddison (Richarlison 62) - Johnson, Kulusevski (Pape Sarr 62), Moore (Werner 62) - Solanke

Attendance: 25,180