Matchday: Crystal Palace 1 – 3 Tottenham

Saturday’s 3-1 win over Crystal Palace featured equal parts magic and nerves.

Goals from Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Nacer Chadli were more than enough to outweigh Palace’s luck in taking the lead from Jan Vertonghen’s own goal in the first half. Unfortunately, the centre-back’s day only got worse as he was forced off injured in the second half, a loss that will keep Tottenham reeling despite the win.

Tottenham looked to begin this match where they left off against Sunderland. Pressure going forward was constant and Palace looked like they might struggle to stay together. Christian Eriksen dropped deep and helped recycle the ball from midfield, Mousa Dembélé found ways forward into Palace’s deep midfield and Heung-min Son looked enthused to have his first Premier League start since Chelsea’s visit in late November.

The problem was all of that work came to essentially nothing. Harry Kane managed an improbably narrow shot on goal, but otherwise Tottenham’s chances were limited. Palace’s defense stayed deep and compact, excelling in particular with their efforts to close down Tottenham’s chief creators before they could get a ball off.

Things weren’t much better for Palace though. Though their forward line stayed up field and did really well to close down Hugo Lloris and the centre-back’s attempts to play out of the back, they failed to find a single shot on goal in the first half, and indeed didn’t even register one at all until the 70th minute.

Still, Palace managed their first goal in over eight hours of play from a well worked bit of build up in and around Tottenham’s penalty area. It concluded with a driven cross that Jan Vertonghen got on the end of of, but unfortunately could only redirect into the back of Lloris’ net.

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Tottenham came close to an equalizer thanks to a well-timed run into Palace’s box by Danny Rose, but Wayne Hennessey was equal to the challenge. The first half ended 1-0 in Palace’s favor.

The match began again after the interval much as it had in the first half – Tottenham had the better time of it but still couldn’t find a way through in the opening stages. Tottenham’s stalwart defensive mid Eric Dier was withdrawn and Nacer Chadli was brought on, an understandably direct response from Mauricio Pochettino. It took a mere seven minutes for the gamble to pay off.

Chadli did well to keep wide and draw out Palace’s defenders before chipping in a cross that Kane found with relative ease. He leveled the score with his 16th goal in all competitions so far this season.

Palace saved their best for late, however. Wilifried Zaha managed his team’s first shot on target in the 70th minute and it was followed by a flurry of chances from the hosts. Lloris and a good deal of luck kept the scoreline level however.

In the effort to keep Palace out of the net, Jan Vertoghen pulled up injured. The Tottenham centre-back has been a key presence in the team all season, but here had to be subbed off for Kevin Wimmer in the 74th minute.

The Austrian’s debut was quickly overshadowed by perhaps the greatest piece of individual skill any player at Tottenham has mustered since the reign of Gareth Bale.

Dele Alli had been relatively quiet all day up until controlling an Eriksen header just outside the box in the 83rd minute. Juggling it in the air once, twice, the 19-year-old hit the ball on the volley and watched as it edged past Hennessey for Tottenham to take the lead.

That majesty couldn’t be savored quite yet though as Tottenham still have to keep Palace contained until the final whistle. Though they did manage to hit the post twice in quick succession, Tottenham held strong.

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Alli managed another bit of magic but couldn’t do more than hit the post in the dying minutes of the game. Tottenham seemed in control all the same, and the match was killed off by a superb strike from Chadli deep into stoppage time.

Though they spent over a half hour behind, Tottenham managed to come back and come back strong. This was the kind of victory that will be talked about at the end of the season, and it featured a goal that will surely go down as one of the club’s absolute best ever.