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Tottenham extended their lead at the top of the Premier League table today, but their boss Jose Mourinho probably won’t be happy with his side’s 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace.
After taking the lead at Selhurst Park in the first half through a Harry Kane goal, Tottenham allowed Palace to claw their way back into the game, and late in the second half, the pressure told. A free-kick from Eberechi Eze caught out Hugo Lloris, and his spill was prodded into the net by Jeff Schlupp.
Tottenham attempted to find a winner following the equaliser, but some excellent work from Palace goalkeeper Vicente Guaita ensured that honours were even.
Here are 5 talking points from Crystal Palace’s draw with Tottenham.
#1 Guaita goes from hero to villain to hero again for Palace
The biggest talking point from the match has to be the performance of Crystal Palace goalkeeper Vicente Guaita. Early on, the Spaniard pulled out a tremendous save to prevent Tottenham from taking the lead, diving to stop a goal-bound shot from Tanguy Ndombele.
Moments later though, Tottenham did take the lead, and it wasn’t exactly a crowning moment for Guaita. A long-range strike from Harry Kane somehow caught him completely off guard and ended up squirming in despite lacking any kind of power and being in the middle of the goal.
For a long time it looked like the goal would settle the game, leaving Guaita with egg on his face, but when Jeff Schlupp equalised, he was handed a chance at redemption.
And the Spaniard took that chance with both hands. First, he made an incredible stop to deny Kane a header from close range following a miscued shot from Serge Aurier. And then even more incredibly, he dived full-length to somehow tip a goal-bound free kick from Eric Dier over the bar.
Palace largely deserved their point today, but in all honesty, they’ve got Guaita to thank for it.
#2 Tottenham drop two valuable points at the top of the table
Following Chelsea’s defeat at the hands of Everton last night, this was Tottenham’s chance to turn the early part of the Premier League title race into a two-way battle between themselves and Liverpool. Had Tottenham won today, they’d have gone five points clear of the Blues – and four clear of third-placed Southampton.
However, despite taking the lead and bossing the first half for the most part, Tottenham slipped up late in the game – just as they did against West Ham back in October.
The goal they conceded was incredibly poor, too. After defending brilliantly all day against the attacking talent of Eberechi Eze and Wilfried Zaha, Tottenham’s defence had a momentary lapse when Eze’s free-kick was fired into the box.
The ball struck Hugo Lloris, bounced up, and was prodded home by Jeff Schlupp. And to make things worse, it was the first time Tottenham’s defence had been breached since their 2-1 win over Brighton on November 1st.
Sure, it’s still early days in terms of the Premier League title race, but this was still a big opportunity for Tottenham to miss. The big question is whether they’ll regret it come May.
#3 Bergwijn shows why he’s being picked ahead of the rest
The form of Harry Kane and Heung-min Son in the early part of this season has meant that a number of Tottenham players have been left fighting for the single place beside them in the front trio.
Lucas Moura, Gareth Bale, Erik Lamela and Steven Bergwijn have all started Premier League matches during 2020-21, but right now the Dutchman appears to be Jose Mourinho’s choice. And it’s a curious issue, as Bergwijn hasn’t scored a goal for Tottenham since his strike against Manchester United last June.
However, watching today’s game, it was clear to see why Mourinho is favouring him right now. Bergwijn was largely anonymous in attack, but in terms of his defensive game, he worked remarkably hard to keep Wilfried Zaha, and in particular Eberechi Eze, quiet.
Sure, the Dutchman only completed two tackles, but that was more than the rest of Tottenham’s attack – Kane, Son and Tanguy Ndombele – managed combined. And without his willingness to sprint back and cover, Serge Aurier may well have found himself in trouble.
Earlier in the season it felt like Bergwijn had fallen out of favour with Mourinho. That’s clearly not the case now, and it should be a message to the likes of Dele Alli and Harry Winks that you can get back into the Portuguese’s good books if you’re willing to put in the hard yards.
#4 Did the fans play their part in Palace’s strong second half?
Much has been made about the fact that with the COVID-19 pandemic finally beginning to wane somewhat, limited amounts of fans are now allowed to attend Premier League games.
But while the issue of fairness has been mentioned – around half of the Premier League’s clubs can have fans attend while the rest cannot – less has been made about the impact of their return.
Today, however, it definitely felt like Crystal Palace were driven on by their 2000 fans, particularly in the second half. That half saw Roy Hodgson’s side attacking the end of the pitch where the majority of their fans were seated, and despite Tottenham repelling the majority of their forays, the crowd seemed to get louder and louder with each attack.
And when Jeff Schlupp finally prodded the equaliser home, the crowd went crazy – giving the impression that Selhurst Park was in fact packed out.
With that in mind, it’ll be interesting to see if home teams with fans in the stands now see more Premier League success. If that’s the case, then the UK government’s policy of only allowing certain clubs to have them has to be brought into question.
#5 Should Tottenham have opened up more against a side like Palace?
Over the past few weeks, Tottenham fans have very much gotten used to watching their side absorbing pressure before looking to hit their opponents on the counter. Their last three Premier League games have come against Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal – three of the competition’s more potent attacking forces, at least on paper.
But while Crystal Palace’s duo of Wilfried Zaha and Eberechi Eze are a danger to any team, the feeling today was that Tottenham might open up a little more and look to really attack Roy Hodgson’s side.
However, that wasn’t really the case. In the second half in particular, Jose Mourinho’s side sat deep and allowed Palace to come onto them in search of an equaliser. It was strange, particularly given the fact that Tottenham had looked so dangerous for large portions of the first half.
Perhaps then, this willingness to sit deep against any semi-dangerous side – something that arguably cost them two points today – is Tottenham’s Achilles heel right now. It’s something we probably won’t find out against Liverpool on Wednesday – so next Sunday’s clash with Leicester will be fascinating indeed.
