If Tottenham Hotspur dislike the term ‘Spursy’ so much, perhaps they should avoid performances such as this. Against a winless Crystal Palace who began the game as the lowest scorers in the top five professional divisions in the country, they were careless at the back and toothless at the front. And nothing much happened in between either.
Spurs were dismal for 45 minutes in the 3-2 defeat at Brighton but here they managed it for the entire 90. A win would have taken them into sixth place but they showed little will to achieve it. Palace were the side who played with ambition and if they had any sort of eye for goal their first Premier League victory of the season would have been far more emphatic.
As it was, Jean-Philippe Mateta scored the only goal of the match, his third of the season, as the players behind last season’s strong finish to the season – Eberechi Eze and Adam Wharton as well as Mateta – finally stepped up. That said, it was hard to judge whether they were back to their best or just taking advantage of feeble opposition.
Tottenham badly missed Son Heung-min, rested with a hamstring injury, and sent Mikey Moore, 17, out for his first Premier League start instead but he had few chances to shine as both teams scuffled ineffectively in a crowded midfield at first. For the first 20 minutes, the highlight was a long half-volleyed kick-out from Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson arrowed 60 yards to the feet of Tyrick Mitchell out on the left wing.
However, when Palace finally knocked at the visitors’ door, they found it wide open. In the 27th minute, Tottenham fell asleep after a corner kick and allowed substitute Will Hughes to cross unchallenged from the left. The ball reached the head of Maxence Lacroix but he sent it over the crossbar.
And the visiting defence erred again as Palace took the lead on the half hour. As they attempted to play out from the back, Micky van de Ven lost the ball, Ismaila Sarr crossed it, Eze flicked it on and Mateta drove it low past Guglielmo Vicario with the aid of a deflection.
Where, though, were Spurs as an attacking force? Henderson had been having such a quiet afternoon that he could afford to risk a stroll in the autumn sun to the centre circle and back as Tottenham defended a corner.
Brennan Johnson almost changed that with a shot that hit the post after 34 minutes. But it was not until the fifth minute of time added to the first half that they managed an effort on target and even then Henderson produced a fine diving save to his left to keep out James Maddison’s first time shot after Destiny Udogie had pulled the ball back from the byline.
Surely the visitors had to show more purpose in the second half? They did not. Spurs had to survive loud Palace claims for a penalty when Eze went down as Van de Ven challenged, although VAR did not invite referee Darren Bond to reconsider his award of a corner kick.
For a brief spell it seemed Palace must add to their goal, but both Sarr and Eze failed to make good chances count and you were reminded why they had scored only five goals before this. Wharton hit a cracking shot in the 82nd minute that deserved to double the lead, but Vicario got across to paw the ball away for a corner. Would Palace pay for missing chances? Not with Spurs in this mood.