Sportstar

Crystal Palace beat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 in the Premier League on Sunday thanks to a Jean-Philippe Mateta goal to finally claim its first win of the season and climb out of the relegation zone.

Palace scored at the half-hour mark when Daniel Munoz pinched the ball from Spurs centre-back Micky van de Ven and put a cross into the box which was expertly flicked by Eberechi Eze to an unmarked Mateta who fired home.

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The home side played with far more intensity than Tottenham, who looked a bit fatigued after its Europa League win over AZ Alkmaar three days ago, while the absence of forward Son Heung-min blunted its attack.

Palace could have scored more if not for Spurs keeper Guglielmo Vicario who made several saves, but it was Oliver Glasner’s side that sealed the three points to move up to 17th while Spurs remain in eighth place.

Crystal Palace vs Tottenham LIVE: CRY v TOT, Solanke leads Spurs’ attack, Premier League updates, live streaming info  Sportstar

Tottenham Hotspur will seek to maintain its strong start in the Europa League without captain Son Heung-min against AZ Alkmaar on Thursday after manager Ange Postecoglou confirmed the South Korean will not be involved.

“Sonny was a bit sore after the weekend, he was never going to be involved tomorrow,” Postecoglou told reporters,” We’ll leave him out and we’ll see how he is from there.”

The London club has won its opening two games in the competition and Postecoglou said the visit of Alkmaar could allow one or two fringe players to impress.

Youngsters such as Mikey Moore, Will Lankshear and Lucas Bergvall all started in the 2-1 away win against Hungarian side Ferencvaros earlier this month.

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“We’ve started the competition really well. Whenever you play away in Europe, it’s a different challenge. We’ve exposed our younger players to European football which is a positive,” Australian Postecoglou said.

“We weren’t in Europe last year and I thought we missed it. We’ve started the competition well but there’s still a long way to go. One step at a time for us.”

Both Wilson Odobert and Richarlison are in contention for Thursday’s game after returning to training after injuries.

Tottenham sits third in the 36-team group with six points while AZ Alkmaar has three points.

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou described his team’s second-half collapse in the 3-2 loss at Brighton as “unacceptable” and “as bad as it gets.”

Spurs conceded three goals in an 18-minute span soon after half-time in a meltdown that might be familiar to the club’s fans.

According to Opta, which supplies statistics for the Premier League, it’s the 10th time that Tottenham has lost a Premier League game in which the team has led by two or more goals.

“It is a terrible loss for us — as bad as it gets,” said Postecoglou, whose side was 2-0 up after goals by Brennan Johnson and James Maddison.

The Australian coach, who is in his second season at Tottenham, said it was the “worst defeat since I’ve been here.”

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“Unacceptable second half. Nowhere near where we should be. We got carried away with how we were going,” he said. “We kind of accepted our fate and it is hard to understand as we’ve not done that while I’ve been here. We paid the price.”

Tottenham was coming off a run of five straight wins, which included a 3-0 victory at Manchester United that was widely lauded for the way Postecoglou’s team played.

“The problem is we were travelling along too smoothly — football and life will trip you up if you get too far ahead of yourself,” Postecoglou said.

Maddison said his team “lost complete control of the game.”

“In adversity in the Premier League... the best teams stay strong in that moment and weather the storm,” he said. “We definitely didn’t do that.”

Brighton & Hove Albion staged a storming second-half comeback with Danny Welbeck sealing a 3-2 home win over Tottenham Hotspur in a topsy-turvy Premier League clash on Sunday.

Goals by Brennan Johnson and James Maddison gave a dominant Spurs side a thoroughly deserved 2-0 lead at the interval.

But the game was turned upside down after the break as Tottenham’s defence fell apart under pressure to concede three goals in the space of 18 minutes.

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Yankuba Minteh pulled a goal back for the host three minutes after the restart before Georginio Rutter levelled from close range. Welbeck then headed Brighton’s third after more flimsy defending by the visitor.

Brighton’s first win in five league games lifted it above Spurs into sixth place in the table with 12 points from seven games, while Tottenham is in ninth spot on 10.

Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou said Dominic Solanke is gradually reaching the levels expected of him after the striker scored one and set up another in its 3-0 Europa League victory over Azerbaijan’s Qarabag on Thursday.

Solanke, signed from Bournemouth in a deal worth up to 65 million pounds (USD 87 million), has had a slow start to the season and missed two games after making his debut due to an ankle injury.

The 27-year-old’s 68th-minute strike against Qarabag was his second in as many games following his goal in a league win over Brentford and wrapped up a comfortable win for 10-man Spurs.

“He’s getting there. He didn’t do pre-season with us and then he has one game and then he’s out for two weeks, while the other guys were building up their match fitness,” Postecoglou told reporters.

“Great for him to get another goal but his all-round performance was really strong. When you’re down to 10 men, you need your striker to be able to hold up the play and do some hard running,” he added.

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Postecoglou also praised 23-year-old attacker Brennan Johnson, who has scored in three straight games since Spurs’ 1-0 defeat to Arsenal.

“Brennan was really important for us, particularly today going down to 10 men pretty early, we’re going to need some attacking outlet,” Postecoglou said.

“Brennan’s been good at taking up those positions and him and Dom have a good little sort of relationship there in terms of working off each other and he took his goal well,” Postecoglou added.

HIGHLIGHTS

Everton manager Sean Dyche said he faces an early-season selection crisis with only 14 recognised first team players available for Saturday’s Premier League trip to Tottenham Hotspur.

Despite generating some 70 million pounds (91 million USD) from the sales of Amadou Onana, Lewis Dobbin and Ben Godfrey, Dyche says Everton may also have to consider offers for striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

“We are stretched, unfortunately,” Dyche told reporters on Thursday. “We are down to around 14 recognised first-team players at the minute - that is not perfect.”

Injuries have hit the squad hard but Everton, who have spent around 40 million pounds on new signings, do not have the funds to bring in new faces.

“We have not got much financially to correct the situation,” added Dyche. “We have just got to work with the players and hope their fitness gets back to being fully fit and then staying fit.”

Everton may also have a big decision to make over Calvert-Lewin should a big offer come in.

“Any offer of a certain level would have to be looked at by the club. We are in a better position because of player trading and how much we have lowered the wages but it is not solved,” said Dyche.

Everton managed to escape relegation last season despite having points deducted twice for breaching the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR).

Everton’s takeover agreement with prospective owner 777 Partners expired in June while the Friedkin Group abandoned its plans to purchase a majority stake in the club last month.

Everton was beaten 3-0 at home by Brighton & Hove Albion in their Premier League opener.

(With inputs from Reuters)

Tottenham Hotspur will be without new signing Dominic Solanke for its Premier League home game against Everton after the striker picked up an ankle injury, manager Ange Postecoglou said on Friday.

Spurs signed the 26-year-old England international from Bournemouth for a reported fee of 65 million pounds ($85.25 million) this month and he played in its Premier League season opener against promoted Leicester City on Monday.

Spurs, which finished fifth last season, drew 1-1 at Leicester.

“Dom picked up a knock in the last game,” Postecoglou told reporters ahead of Saturday’s match. “He got through the game, but it flared up the day after, and he’ll miss the game tomorrow.

“It’s an ankle injury. He copped it really early on, someone went across his ankle.”

Solanke scored 19 Premier League goals last season to help Bournemouth achieve its highest points total in the top flight.

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Uruguayan midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur is also unavailable for the fixture as he follows concussion protocols.

Yves Bissouma will be available, however. The 27-year-old Mali international was suspended for the Leicester game after a video showing him inhaling nitrous oxide was posted on social media.

“Biss is available but we’ve got some options there. The whole idea of trying to bulk up the squad is for these situations. He’s available for selection. The bridge building continues,” Postecoglou said.

Spurs could still change its squad.

“There’s probably a couple more who will go out but we’ve done a fair bit of work over the past 12 months and we’ve brought down the demographic a fair way and brought in players in line with how we want to play but there’s still a fair bit we want to do,” Postecoglou said.

Tottenham Hotspur takes on recently promoted Leicester City in its opening game of the Premier League 2024-25 season on August 19.

Ange Postecoglou’s side will face arch rival Arsenal for the North London derby on September 14 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and January 14 at the Emirates.

Postecoglou’s men were not able to qualify for the UEFA Champions League, as they lost its fourth place to Aston Villa due to an extremely lean second half of the season.

Here is the list of Tottenham Hotspur’s fixtures for the upcoming 2024-25 Premier League season: (all timings in BST)

Tottenham, fifth in the league standings, next travels to face seventh-placed West Ham United in a league match on Tuesday.