FRENCH SAVIOUR Jean-Philippe Mateta may have saved Oliver Glasner’s job at Crystal Palace as he finally kick-started the club’s Premier League campaign.
Having been winless in their opening eight matches – their joint-worst start to a top-flight season – the Eagles are now soaring thanks to this brilliant and much-needed home win over Tottenham.
In all likelihood, the Austrian head coach would have been axed come the November international break if there had not been a dramatic reversal in their fortunes.
And the former Europa League winner will be forever indebted to the decisive actions of striker Mateta, who celebrates by kicking a corner flag.
Overall, it was a sorry display by Spurs, who have now lost for the third time in the Prem in just nine matches and are nine points behind leaders City.
It was a physical battle, too, as befits any London derby, and three Tottenham stars came off worse in hard-hitting challenges in the first half alone.
First, James Maddison was flattened from behind by Maxence Lacroix and needed assistance to get back up – for the next five minutes he was seen clutching his painful lower back.
Dejan Kulusevski had a forearm smashed into the side of his head by Palace’s Marc Guehi and it was a surprise that neither referee Darren Bond nor VAR decided to at least caution the England centre-back.
Then Spurs full-back Pedro Porro was screaming in agony after coming off worse in a collision with Tyrick Mitchell close to the touchline.
Selhurst Park used to be one of the best top-flight grounds to visit for match-day atmosphere with the Holmesdale Fanatics Ultras banging the drums and making their presence felt.
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That has not been the case so much this season, perhaps understandably given the dreadful sequence of results.
No wonder it was a bit flat to begin with but come 31 minutes they were all shouting BOOOOOOOM as they saluted Mateta’s fifth goal of the season.
Tottenham were mucking about at the back – no team decides to lump it long these days, they always want to play it out of trouble.
A hospital pass by captain Cristian Romero was played over to Micky van de Ven on the left side but when the speedy Dutchman slipped, possession was quickly won by Daniel Munoz.
The Colombian’s cross from the right was intelligently flicked-on by the backheel of Eberechi Eze into the path of his French colleague.
And the Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist controlled the ball with his right and then slammed it home with his left – before booting one of the corner flags, as is his signature celebration, as the crowd went wild.
Palace were indebted to goalkeeper Dean Henderson for holding the fort until half-time as he produced a brilliant reaction save when Maddison struck goal-bound.
Four minutes into the second half, Eze thought he had managed to break the Spurs high line and double the lead when he received an excellent through ball by the magnificent Adam Wharton.
Racing clear of the last Spurs man, he managed to squeeze his shot past the body of Guglielmo Vicario and was convinced he had remained onside.
Yet the assistant ref raised his flag and after a VAR review the on-field decision was not overturned.
However, where was VAR when Eze was brought down minutes later?
The England winger showed off his full bag of tricks in the Tottenham box and was then brought to the ground by a combination of pressure from behind by Kulusevski and Van de Ven grabbing his red-and-blue striped shirt.
Even from a distance, it looked like a clear penalty, there had been contact with an opponent and the Palace team went ballistic that no spotkick was awarded.
Soon afterwards, Van de Ven – the quickest man in the Prem – brought down Ismaila Sarr and as the last man, many wanted and expected a red to be shown.
Controversially, ref Bond only gave a yellow as he felt Sarr was not running directly towards Vicario’s goal when the impact happened.
Prior to that Ange Postecoglou had made a triple substitution on 62 minutes, which included taking off teenager Mikey Moore.
At 17 years and 77 days old, Moore is the youngest player to start a Prem match for Tottenham since Stephen Carr (17 years and 28 days) against Ipswich Town in September 1993.
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Though he had an excellent display last Thursday against AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League – Maddison said it was like watching Neymar – the South Londoner looked a bit leggy this time and did not offer much in attack.
Tottenham were unable to find the equaliser they desperately wanted and were grateful for Vicario’s exceptional one-handed save to palm away Wharton’s 25-yard strike on 83 minutes.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
