Crystal Palace beat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 in the Premier League on Sunday thanks to a Jean-Philippe Mateta goal to finally claim their first win of the season and climb out of the relegation zone.
The victory eased the pressure on manager Oliver Glasner as Palace moved up to 17th with six points, two points clear of the drop zone, while Spurs remain in eighth spot with 13 points.
Palace started the game with much more intensity and their high press yielded the opening goal when Spurs shot themselves in the foot trying to pass the ball out from the back.
Daniel Muñoz pinched the ball from Spurs centre back Micky van de Ven when the defender slipped and the wing back put a cross into the box which was expertly flicked by Eberechi Eze to an unmarked Mateta who fired home.
“We could have dealt with those situations better but it was a poor goal and we should do better at that and not concede like that,” Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou told reporters postmatch.
“There were other solutions out there and again even in that moment we didn’t have to lose our composure. It just seems we kind of wanted everything to run smoothly and we know it doesn’t, especially in a game like today.
“There are still ways you can overcome that but it was a poor goal to concede because the game was always an arm-wrestle. It was never going to be one with bags of chances… so to concede like that was disappointing.”
Without injured skipper Son Heung-Min, Spurs struggled to mount attacks while 17-year-old winger Mikey Moore — making his first Premier League start — could not replicate his dazzling performance in the Europa League three days ago.
Eze nearly made it 2-0 minutes into the second half but had his goal ruled out for a marginal offside when he tried to capitalise on Spurs’ high line. Palace’s appeal for a penalty when he went down in the box moments later was denied.
But Spurs were well and truly on the backfoot and had goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario to thank as he kept them in the game with some fine saves as Palace spurned opportunities to double their lead, with Munoz and Eze firing wide.
“They fight and I think we lacked that today. We are disappointed because we have to fight. We play good football but maybe sometimes we lack the desire to fight. They show a real desire to fight for something,” Vicario told Sky Sports.
“I think we lacked a bit of energy to be better than them. We have to take this personally and it has to hurt us a lot.”
Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou had seen enough and he made a triple substitution to introduce Richarlison, Pape Sarr and Timo Werner for the last half-hour, but they were unable to make any impact on the game as Palace’s defence stood strong.
The Selhurst Park crowd groaned in unison when seven minutes were added on at the end of the second half but their fans erupted when the referee blew the final whistle as they claimed their first league win since May.
