Archie Gray scored his first goal in senior football to give Tottenham and under-pressure boss Thomas Frank a vital win at Crystal Palace this afternoon.
Gray pounced three minutes before the break to hand the visitors a victory they just about deserved despite a performance that displayed little cohesion. Palace were the dominant side for long spells but Spurs carried plenty of threat on the break, Richarlison having two goals chalked off for offside and Wilson Odobert seeing a late effort crash back off the post.
The victory moves Spurs up to 11th, a point and two places behind Palace.
Palace start well but fail to find breakthrough
Palace dominated the early stages, looking sharp on the ball and pressing Spurs back and yet it was the visitors who almost grabbed the opener after 16 minutes. Pedro Porro supplied the cross from the right and Richarlison slid the ball home only for the celebrations to be muted by the VAR ruling the goal out for an offside against Lucas Bergvall in the build-up.
Jean-Philippe Mateta was causing the Tottenham defence problems and he fizzed a shot inches wide three minutes later.
The Frenchman then headed over and midfielder Will Hughes was off-target with a shot as Palace continued to threaten.
Spurs had offered very little going forward but ensured they went into half-time in the lead when Richarlison nodded a partially cleared corner backwards for Gray to glance past Dean Henderson from close range.
Clyne and Devenny fluff their lines
Palace ought to have levelled matters 11 minutes into the second half.
Yeremy Pino escaped down the left and whipped in a clever cross which was perfect for Nathaniel Clyne to head home. Instead, the former England full-back nodded it down for Justin Devenny but his shot on the turn flew over.
Palace remained on the front foot and Maxence Lacroix ought to have done better than head Jefferson Lerma’s centre wide with 20 minutes to go.
The second half was mirroring the first with Spurs playing on the counter and it nearly resulted in a second goal after 75 minutes.
A swift break saw Gray find Mohammed Kudus down the right and his delicious delivery with the outside of the boot was perfect for Richarlison to tap home. Again, the Brazilian celebrated and again his effort was ruled out for offside.
Palace’s challenge was petering out and Odobert came close again for Spurs, running on to Richarlison’s header and firing in a shot that beat Henderson but not the left-hand upright.
Henderson then had to be alert to push clear a stinging shot from Rodrigo Bentancur.