Tottenham had to come from behind for the second week in a row, this time in a 3-1 win over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park last night.
The Eagles were able to start the game well and deservedly recorded their first Premier League goal of 2016, albeit an own goal from Jan Vertonghen, who tried to block a Wilfried Zaha cross but did not get his angles right and sent the ball into his own net.
Despite some good movements going forward for Tottenham, it took until the 63rd minute to get level. Harry Kane was able was able to have basically a free jump at a delivery put in by Nacer Chadli and put the ball past Wayne Hennessey.
The visitors then looked to wrap up the game through some real pieces of individual brilliance. After a switch found Christian Eriksen, he headed down to Dele Alli who then demostrated some great foot skills to get past Mile Jedinak and unleash a volley on goal that left Hennessey stunned. The performance was completed by Chadli, who showed off his speed to get into the middle of the field and found the net with a long-range strike.
Palace had some chances before the two Tottenham goals and will look to build on this for their next game against Bournemouth, while the Spurs next travel to Norwich.
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Crystal Palace
Wayne Hennessey – 5: Looked much more confident than in previous games and the goals he conceded were too good to be able to stop.
Joel Ward – 5: Made a couple of good clearances, but missed some passes that should have found their targets.
Scott Dann – 6: Was effective against Kane, not allowing him too much space and also made some good clearing headers.
Damien Delaney – 4: Was largely at fault for Kane’s goal, seemingly falling asleep and allowing the striker a free run at the ball.
Pape Souare – 5: One of his quietest games of the season, but seemed to grow into the proceedings as time went on to combine well with Puncheon, almost resulting in a goal late for Palace.
James McArthur – 5: Worked hard in the midfield and tried to prevent Tottenham from advancing with ease.
Joe Ledley – 5: Near invisible for the game and did not really have an impact either way.
Wilfried Zaha – 7: Had a good first-half in providing the assist for the Vertonghen own goal, but seemed to fade out of the game in the latter stages.
Yohan Cabaye – 6: Provided some really good opportunities for Palace and even had some decent chances himself, but could not get the ball away in the right moments.
Jason Puncheon – 6: Had a few good set pieces and in open play provided some threatening crosses.
Connor Wickham – 6: Saw some good chances to get a view on goal but struggled to get power into some of his shots. Played well when defending the opposition’s set pieces, stepping up on multiple occasions to clear the ball.
Substitutes
Mile Jedinak – 6: After replacing McArthur he almost had an immediate impact, having a shot hit the crossbar when the scores were level.
Fraizer Campbell – 5: Another player who almost had a chance to get on the score sheet late in the game, which would have drawn the game level at 2-2.
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Tottenham Hotspur
Hugo Lloris – 6: Made some good saves that kept Tottenham in the game.
Kieran Trippier – 6: Commited some mistakes, but worked hard against Puncheon to keep him fairly quiet throughout the game.
Toby Alderweireld – 7: Some key defensive contributions and also provided passes which found teammates in advanced positions on multiple occasions.
Jan Vertonghen – 6: Apart from the own goal had a relatively solid game, before he had to come off because of injury in the second-half.
Danny Rose – 5: Struggled early against Zaha, but once he started to get on top of the winger it took him out of the game.
Eric Dier – 6: Worked well in both areas of the game with Rose to try and top Zaha getting into dangerous areas.
Mousa Dembele – 6: A quiet game for the midfielder, doing all that he needed mostly unnoticed.
Son Heung-Min – 5: Another player who had a quiet game, however, he did try to provide something in attack but was unable to really break away from the Palace defence.
Dele Alli – 9: By far the man of the match. Showed all of his skill in one movement when he knocked the ball over Jedinak to score what should go down as goal of the season.
Christian Eriksen – 7: Had some decent chances from set pieces before providing an assist for Alli’s goal.
Harry Kane – 6: Made some really good incursions into the box to provide an options for his midfielders to try and pick out before he finally scored from a cross from Chadli.
Dele Alli game by numbers vs. Palace:
44 passes completed
3 chances created
1 assist
1 goal of the season contender pic.twitter.com/mizo22X3nu— Squawka Football (@Squawka) January 23, 2016
Substitutes
Nacer Chadli – 8: After coming off the bench made a really positive impact on the game for Tottenham and had a role in all three goals with an assist in the first goal and scoring the third.
Kevin Wimmer – 5: Made no real impact on the game after coming on the replace the injured Vertonghen.
Nabil Bentaleb – 5: Did not really have much of a chance to get into the game after coming on late to replace Eriksen.
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