Crystal Palace 3-0 Tottenham Hotspur: 5 talking points as Eagles secure huge win after Tanganga red card | Premier League 2021-22

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#3 Tottenham Hotspur's injury woes deepen

Tottenham were gutted to see their defender trudge off with an injury

As if they weren't already blighted by a spate of injuries, Tottenham Hotspur dealt a new one today with Eric Dier, who hobbled off the pitch less than 10 minutes into the match.

The midfielder suffered a nasty collision with Jordan Ayew while attempting to clear the ball. He looked set to continue at first, but was eventually taken off for Joe Rodon.

With the likes of Son Heung-min, Steven Bergwijn, Oliver Skipp and Ryan Sessegnon already injured, the England international now joins them in the treatment room.

🤕 Wishing @EricDier a speedy recovery! pic.twitter.com/qHjRb4XT3r

— SPORF (@Sporf) September 11, 2021

Head coach Nuno Santos had witnessed a fairly good start to life as the new Spurs manager. But if the number of casualties keeps piling up, the going will only get tougher from here.

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#4 Ben Davies had an afternoon to forget

Davies (far right) was disastrous in defense today

Another defining moment in the match was arguably Ben Davies coming on for Harry Winks after the hour mark, but for all the wrong reasons.

That's because the Welshman was an unmitigated disaster in the backline, from start to finish, with Crystal Palace running rings around the beleaguered defender.

He conceded a penalty which eventually gave the hosts a breakthrough and then in stoppage-time was caught out of possession by Gallagher, whose effort unfortunately was safely gathered by Lloris.

ZAHA SCORES FROM THE SPOT! ⚽️🥅Wilfried Zaha puts the Eagles ahead with a penalty following a Ben Davies handball ✅Advantage Crystal Palace. pic.twitter.com/DSa6Z4I0Fh

— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) September 11, 2021

However, there was no such luck when he went up against Michael Olise just minutes later, who easily flicked the ball past him for Gallagher and he squared it to Edouard to finish it off.

Palace's fast tempo had Davies in sixes and sevens as he turned in arguably his worst club performance of the year.

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#5 Don't take this Crystal Palace side lightly

Palace have improved since the opening day loss to Chelsea

You could argue that Crystal Palace were winless in the league so far. But a closer look at their trajectory will tell you a different story.

Going up against a highly armed Chelsea at Stamford Bridge was always going to be a tough ask, but the Eagles bounced back with consecutive draws to Brentford and West Ham.

That second stalemate, in particular, was encouraging as they came back from 2-1 down to eke out a point. And today, Patrick Vieira's side ran a taut ship before pouncing on their opportunities.

The red card surely played a part here, as the match might as well have ended all square once again had Tanganga avoided the red card. But credit where it's due, and the Eagles made the most of their numerical advantage, registering their first win of the season too.

While their defense was stoic, Wilfried Zaha and Connor Gallagher were in fine form upfront once again, and now have a new attacking option in Odsonne Edouard, who's got off to life in the Premier League spectacularly.

This side has a lot of potential. Let's see how far they go.