Tottenham 1-0 Crystal Palace: Player ratings as Spurs end four-match winless run
By Sean Walsh
FROM TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM - Tottenham boosted their Europa League hopes with a hard-fought 1-0 win at home to Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Harry Kane scored a record 10th headed goal of the Premier League season to hand Ryan Mason his first win since re-taking interim charge.
After the hosts spent the opening 17 minutes toying with a fluid 3-4-3/4-4-2 system, they rattled the crossbar from a corner when Cristian Romero rose high to meet Pedro Porro's delivery, denied an opening goal by a matter of inches.
Soon after, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg worked a nice give-and-go with Kane, with the Dane marauding into the box but firing high and wide.
At the other end, Michael Olise came in off the right with a fortunate if improvised touch to skip past Clement Lenglet, though his sliced strike was held by Fraser Forster.
From another corner, Porro picked out Romero, and though his header was hardly fearsome, Joel Ward nearly skewed his clearance into his own net.
A superb long ball from Olise caught Spurs off guard and saw Joachim Andersen outmuscle Richarlison to create some space for an opening, but he lost his composure when closed down by Ben Davies and meekly fired over.
Entering first-half stoppage time, Tottenham took the lead. Kane managed to swivel away from Marc Guehi and pick out Porro with a terrific looping ball, and the Spaniard returned the favour with a delicate cross onto the head of the his captain, peeling away from Joel Ward and finding the net.
Kane has now passed Wayne Rooney into second place on the Premier League's all-time scoring charts.
Palace started the second half with renewed intensity - Wilfried Zaha's floated shot only narrowly sailed wide, while Eberechi Eze dragged a strike of his own wide after the visitors worked some space on the far right.
Spurs' first chance of the second half came when Kane's limp pass forward was retrieved by an alert Richarlison, slipping Porro in off the right flank. Both Richarlison and Son Heung-min were in the box waiting for a cross but he instead chose to shoot with his weaker left foot, a poor decision which saw the ball fly well wide to the annoyance of his teammates.
Porro then decided to go for goal a few minutes later from a similar angle, with his shot this time looping off of Tyrick Mitchell's foot and forcing Sam Johnstone into a save at his near post.
The wing-back again went close with a whipped free-kick from the left, which somehow avoided a host of waiting heads and bodies and was only inches from landing in the very corner of the net.
Tottenham should have doubled their lead with 15 minutes left to play. A long ball over the top from Romero was taken in stride sweetly by Son. He managed to round Johnstone, but the goalkeeper got back to his feet quickly to deny the South Korean from close range.
Palace began to crank the pressure up in the closing stages. Olise's deep free-kick was met by Andersen, who had time to lay the ball across goal, only for Kane to clear from a few yards out.
But Tottenham showed their mental toughness to squeeze out the win despite the visitors' late pressure.
Tottenham Hotspur player ratings (3-4-3)
GK: Fraser Forster - 6/10 - Didn't have too much to do.
CB: Emerson Royal - 7/10 - Flitted between centre-back and right-back. Got the better of his duels with Zaha for the most part though did have to accept the odd ankle-breaking.
CB: Cristian Romero - 7/10 - Defended with controlled aggression and was a useful outlet in building from the back.
CB: Clement Lenglet - 6/10 - Also useful in possession though wasn't as assured out of it.
RM: Pedro Porro - 8/10 - Pushed up high regardless of Emerson's positioning. Continually ran at Palace's backline and his set piece delivery was usually exquisite.
CM: Oliver Skipp - 5/10 - Rather sloppy in possession though at least ran the hard yards.
CM: Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg - 5/10 - Another week in which it was redundant to play both Skipp and Hojbjerg.
LM: Ben Davies - 5/10 - Usually wasteful with the ball but an accurate pass to Kane led to the opening goal.
RF: Richarlison - 5/10 - Often came in centrally, looking lost in the first half but finding some rhythm after the break.
LF: Son Heung-min - 6/10 - Worked his socks off trying to ensure Spurs' attack could remain fluid.
CF: Harry Kane - 9/10 - Dropped deep to bring others into play excellently. Has now scored a Premier League-record 10 headed goals in a season.
Substitutes
Dejan Kulusevski (79' for Richarlison) - N/A
Eric Dier (88' for Lenglet) - N/A
Arnaut Danjuma (89' for Son) - N/A
Manager
Ryan Mason - 6/10 - Spurs weren't amazing in attack but they at least showed great defensive resilience.
Crystal Palace player ratings (4-3-3)
GK: Sam Johnstone - 6/10 - Made a few decent saves, notably recovering to deny Son an open goal.
RB: Joel Ward - 4/10 - Lost Kane for the opener. Outpaced by Davies. Not a great day.
CB: Joachim Andersen - 6/10 - Got his head on everything in both boxes.
CB: Marc Guehi - 5/10 - Never quite knew whether to stay with Kane when he dropped deep or leave him be, with this indecision in-part contributing to the opener.
LB: Tyrick Mitchell - 5/10 - Had a lot on his plate trying to slow down Porro.
CM: Cheick Doucoure - 5/10 - Dropped in as a third centre-back as Palace tried to match Spurs up.
CM: Ebere Eze - 5/10 - Failed to consistently get on the ball and make things tick.
CM: Jeffrey Schlupp - 5/10 - Kept it simple in midfield.
RW: Michael Olise - 6/10 - Spurs were clearly a little afraid of Palace's tricky wingers, with Olise at times looking like a young cross between Riyad Mahrez and Hakim Ziyech.
CF: Jordan Ayew - 4/10 - Scarcely involved at all. Rattled a little by Emerson late on.
LF: Wilfried Zaha - 6/10 - Started brightly but faded as the game went on and when Palace needed dragging through the afternoon.
Substitutes
Will Hughes (73' for Schlupp) - 5/10
Odsonne Edouard (84' for Ayew) - N/A
Manager
Roy Hodgson - 5/10 - Didn't really react to anything Spurs did.