- Sluggish first half -
The game was originally scheduled to be played on Monday night, and in the first half it seemed like the players weren't 100% prepared for the fixture to be contested at the weekend. Neither side look too sharp in the first 45, and there were only a handful of clear cut chances.
'Spurs' started fairly quickly, and dominated possession throughout the half, but Palace looked fairly comfortable sitting back in a 4-5-1 when the visitors had the ball.
The home side had a fair few dangerous counter-attacks, mostly down the right hand side through Andros Townsend. The pacey winger looked the most threatening player for the home side, but his final product wasn’t good enough.
Tottenham main man Harry Kane was pretty quiet in the half, but he was gifted the best chance of the first period in the ninth minute when Patrick Van Aanholt made a clanger, passing the ball into Kane’s path inside his own box after a cross field ball from Dele Alli.
Kane was uncharacteristically profligate in front of goal, however, and Wayne Hennessey was able to save. Kane was also involved in a penalty shout in the 29th minute after Fosu-Mensah brought him down in the box, but the linesman flagged for offside.
- Palace pinned -
Spurs were even more dominant in the second half, and the majority of the play took place in Palace’s half of the pitch. The visitors attacked and attacked, but were not clinical, missing a few big chances.
The biggest of these misses came from Kane again, as he fluffed a chance that was even easier than his first half opportunity. Christian Eriksen dinked a cute ball to the back post in the 53rd minute, and it landed right at the feet of Tottenham’s top scorer, who managed to put it past the far post from a few yards out.
Serge Aurier missed another sitter in the 84th minute, as 'Spurs' began to pile on the pressure. Ben Davies put a low ball across the box, and all Aurier needed to do was tap it in, but he somehow failed, capping off a poor performance from Tottenham's right-back.
- Late heartbreak -
It looked like Palace were going to hold on for a hard-fought draw as the last few minutes approached, but it wasn’t to be. Kane finally righted the wrongs of his two earlier misses when he headed in from the back post in the 89th minute, after Christian Eriksen found him from a corner.
Wayne Hennessey got his gloves to it, but was unable to stop it going in, and 'Spurs' finally found the breakthrough that their consistent pressure warranted, as Kane took his tally for the season to 35.
- A fair result -
Palace will be disappointed, but there wasn’t much more that Roy Hodgson could have done to give his side a chance of winning. When James Tomkins went off injured in the second half, it left Palace’s already makeshift defence even more exposed, and Tottenham were finally able to capitalise on the home side’s injury crisis. They now sit in 17th, equal on points with 18th placed Swansea, and will face a hard fight to stay up this season.