Crystal Palace had chances and Tottenham lacked inspiration four days after beating Real Madrid, but Son Heung-Min settled a tight game with the only goal
Match report: Son seals laboured win over Palace
Updated
Sun 5 Nov 2017 09.13 EST
First published on Sun 5 Nov 2017 06.00 EST
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Glory, glory Tottenham Hotspur blares over the tannoy. Well, the points are theirs today. But there wasn’t much about glory about that tired display. Will they care, though? Nope. Not a bit. This was always likely to be awkward. Tottenham looked leggy and emotionally spent after the win over Real Madrid and Crystal Palace did their best to frustrate them. The visitors even had the better chances while the game was goalless, but in the end they paid for their lack of ruthlessness when Son Heung-Min scored a lovely winning goal. All of which means Tottenham go level with Manchester United on 23 points - and below them on goal difference - and Palace stay bottom, five points off 17th place. That’s all from me for now. You can follow Manchester City v Arsenal next.
Full-time: Tottenham 1-0 Crystal Palace
It’s all over!
90 min+3: Townsend cuts inside, on to his left foot, but his 20-yard shot is blocked. Tottenham appear to have done enough.
90 min+1: Ben Davies replaces Danny Rose. Tottenham have used up their three subs.
90 min: There will be three added minutes.
89 min: There’s still an anxious air inside Wembley. Especially when another loose spell from Tottenham allows Townsend to dribble dangerously down the right. He steps round Dier and fires a low ball into the six-yard box from the byline. But Sanchez clears. What Palace would give for a striker!
87 min: Eriksen saunters through the middle, options left and right. He chooses Sissoko on the right. The midfielder’s cross is deflected behind. Sanchez heads wide from Eriksen’s cross.
86 min: Gazzaniga, who’s had a good game, is alert enough to collect a long pass before Loftus-Cheek can nip in. Palace aren’t out of this yet.
83 min: Son shoots away down the left again, but this time Sakho holds him up, stands firm and settles for conceding a corner. Son lacked belief and pace there.
82 min: Son should kill Palace off after breaking through on goal. He sends Speroni one way, but after doing the hard part he strokes his shot into the near side-netting!
80 min: From Cabaye’s corner, Dann loops a header over.
76 min: After a couple of Palace corners, Gazzaniga does well to punch clear under heavy pressure. Palace make a change. Bakary Sako is on for Joel Ward. Tottenham also make a change, Fernando Llorente on for Harry Kane.
73 min: Zaha hares back to stop a Son-led counterattack. You can tell how much Palace’s survival means to him. He wins possession and instigates a Palace attack, but it ends with Cabaye shooting wide from 25 yards.
70 min: A warning for Spurs. From the irrepressible Zaha, of course. He wriggles down the left and briefly looks like he’s going to score a repeat of his goal against West Ham. But he seems to get caught in two minds, perhaps after spotting Loftus-Cheek emerging in space on the right. In the end he rolls a curious looking thing out for a goal-kick. It was neither a pass nor a shot. It just ... was.
68 min: Palace haven’t mustered a response since the goal. Instead Tottenham are looking for a killer second. An Eriksen corner’s easily cleared, but it’s not long before Tottenham have another after strong pressing from Rose.
65 min: “Lads, we’re Tottenham” – Mauricio Pochettino.
GOAL! Tottenham 1-0 Crystal Palace (Son, 64 min)
It hasn’t been coming, but it has arrived. For once, Crystal Palace were unable to clear their lines and this is the result. The ball reached Kane in the area from the right. He shuffled it on to Rose, who cut inside before seeing his goalbound shot blocked. That was the moment Palace had to get it away. Instead Cabaye’s clearance only reached Son on the edge of the area. He took a moment to calibrate his sights before bending a super left-footed shot into the right corner to bust the growing Tottenham tension!
62 min: Son skitters through the middle and finds Rose, whose cross slithers across the face of goal and beyond the sliding Aurier at the far post.
61 min: “Lads, it’s Tottenham” – Roy Hodgson.
60 min: Cabaye’s corner is headed on by Dann to the far post, where Milivoejevic thuds a header goalwards, only for Gazzaniga to make a stunning reaction save! Tottenham, living oh so dangerously, scramble the ball clear, at which point Kevin Friend stops play after spotting Son down in the area.
59 min: Palace’s belief is rising. A devilish cross from the left flashes across the face of goal. Then Townsend’s deflected shot has to be headed behind by Aurier.
57 min: Ward brilliantly heads Eriksen’s free-kick away. The ball comes to Aurier, who proceeds to roll a five-yard pass to Townsend in a manner that suggests he should be playing for West Ham. Tottenham are wide open here. Townsend sprays a pass through to Zaha and he rounds Gazzaniga, who’s come charging out of his area in an attempt to reach the ball first. The goal’s wide open, but now it’s Zaha’s turn to lose his composure as he pulls his shot two or three yards wide of the far post!
56 min: Schlupp struggles to clear and, in a panic, brings down Aurier. He’s booked.
55 min: Milivojevic hoists a high ball into the Tottenham area. Who’s there? Sakho! But his touch is loose and Aurier shovels it behind. Gazzaniga claims Cabaye’s corner.
53 min: Tottenham’s wait to threaten from a corner goes on.
51 min: Rose fizzes a low cross into the area. Milivojevic turns it over his own bar. Eriksen’s corner is headed away.
49 min: Tottenham have a little trouble clearing the resulting corner, but they breathe a sigh of relief when Zaha hammers over from 18 yards.
48 min: A dreadful pass inside from Aurier is cut out by Townsend, who spies an opportunity to charge forward and test a backtracking Tottenham defence. He swerves to the left and drives a low shot towards the far corner, but Gazzaniga excels again, pushing the ball wide!
46 min: Tottenham get the second half underway. Mousa Dembele has replaced Harry Winks. Tottenham want to make a fast start here. Aurier’s cross is headed behind by Fosu-Mensah.
Half-time: Tottenham 0-0 Crystal Palace
That was very dull. Mauricio Pochettino won’t be happy. Roy Hodgson will be happy.
45 min+2: Townsend is booked for tugging back Sissoko.
45 min+1: A free-kick to Palace on the left. Cabaye stands over it. But his delivery is too deep. An easy catch for Gazzaniga.
45 min: Winks sends an effort harmlessly wide from long range.
44 min: Eriksen slips a pass through to Son. The South Korean should knock it across to Kane, who’s free in the middle, but he dithers and ends up sending a nothing cross-shot out of play. Kane is unamused.
42 min: Vertonghen has a pop from 25 yards. The shot deflects off Dann and briefly looks to have inconvenienced Speroni. In the end he’s able to gather the ball easily enough.