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Crystal 0-1 Tottenham
by Maamun Hajmahmoud
At Selhurst Park
JUAN FOYTH’S second-half goal was the difference between Palace and Spurs at Selhurst Park as the visitors came away with a 0-1 victory.
Palace’s inability to win games without Wilfried Zaha continued as the Ivorian was a surprise omission from Roy Hodgson’s match day squad due to a hamstring injury.
The Eagles have now lost their last 13 matches where their talisman has not been present, an unwanted record which has already become the go-to stat line whenever the forward does not feature.
Despite Palace’s glaring need for a genuine striker, Andros Townsend and Jordan Ayew both had their chances to equalise.
The former’s tame volley failed to trouble Hugo Lloris from 12 yards, while Ayew unforgivably attempted to buck responsibility by passing instead of shooting when he just had Lloris to beat, much to the annoyance of the south London faithful and manager Roy Hodgson.
“It’s very hard when your team does so many good things in terms of their tactical approach, in terms of their discipline, in terms of their work rate and determination, and you end up losing by a goal to nil … and there’s no words which can alter the situation,” said the Palace boss.
The game was competitive in midfield where Moussa Sissoko came up tops with a stellar performance; consistently breaking up play and driving his teammates up the pitch with his lung-bursting runs.
The crucial goal came from a set-piece where Kane’s headed effort rebounded off of two players before Foyth reacted quicker than Ayew to head his side into the lead.
The goal capped an impressive performance from the Argentinian as both he and Toby Alderweireld marshalled the pair of Ayew and Townsend relatively comfortably over the 90 minutes.
Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino was glowing in his praise for the defender, particularly after conceding two penalties on his debut against Wolves last week:
“The confidence and the trust is massive from the club, from us, from his teammates and no doubt that his potential and quality will be very helpful for the team. Today he showed great character and personality, played so well and I’m happy for him.”
