Coming into this Wednesday night London derby, there was more to this game than met the eye. This fixture last term presented a moment of genuine magic as Dele Alli scored a contender for goal of the season in a comfortable 3-1 win for Tottenham. A lot has changed since that victory, notably in the Crystal Palace dugout. Alan Pardew was relieved of his duties just before Christmas and replaced by Sam Allardyce who, after a slow start to life in south London, has overseen a superb change in fortunes at Selhurst Park.
Six wins in the last eight coming into Wednesday night's game, with the sole defeat coming at Southampton, has effectively guaranteed Palace’s place in the Premier League next season. All the more impressively, Allardyce masterminded wins over Chelsea, Arsenal and, most recently, Liverpool in the fine run with the Eagles doing all they can to upset both the race for a top-4 finish and the title race. Spurs meanwhile were out to ensure their FA Cup semi-final loss to Chelsea on Sunday was a mere blip in the second of a run of four successive London derbies.
What followed wasn’t the prettiest of performances from Palace, but they remained compact and organised, a staple of any Allardyce team. The pragmatic boss has worked wonders since the team began playing to the standards expected of the former England manager and Wednesday’s outing proved why as they frustrated Spurs, forcing them out wide, but to no avail and Andros Townsend and Wilfried Zaha ensured the Palace full-backs were never doubled up on. Even once Spurs swapped to a 4-2-3-1 formation midway through the first half, they struggled to break the hosts down, with Mauricio Pochettino forced into bringing Moussa Sissoko and Son Heung-min at the interval for Victor Wanyama and Mousa Dembele in a bid to freshen his side up.
Arguably the turning point on the evening came when Mamadou Sakho was stretchered off early in the second half. The Frenchman has been a revelation since his January arrival from Liverpool, yet sustained a serious leg injury. With the experienced Damien Delaney coming on for Sakho, and a centre-back partnership of he and Martin Kelly, Spurs naturally sensed blood and came perilously close to opening the scoring, first through Dele Alli then Kyle Walker as the north London side begun to turn the screw.
As it did in this fixture last season, a moment of magic was needed to break the deadlock as Christian Eriksen rifled in a long distance effort to put Spurs ahead late on. The Dane gave Spurs hope at Wembley at the weekend with his perfectly-weighted ball for Alli to draw them level against Blues and it was Spurs’ creator in chief who dragged them out of the mire once more as he rifled past Wayne Hennessey. What’s most notable about Eriksen’s man of the match showing was that he played in three different roles on the night, with he dropping deeper for the second, yet this then allowed for him to express the creative side to his game with ruthless efficiency.
Palace rarely pressed high unless they saw a chance to catch Spurs out in the final third, but this meant they sat deeper to frustrate Spurs, which they did superbly before Sakho’s injury. Delaney’s introduction prompted the Palace defence to drop deeper, which had a ripple effect on the team, that in part due to the half time introductions of Son and Sissoko, with the latter pinning back Jeffrey Schlupp excellently. However, this just meant that Eriksen was given the necessary space with which to flex his creative muscles and flex he did.
Christian Eriksen: Has scored or assisted 16 goals in his last 12 appearances for Tottenham in all competitions (12 goals, four assists)
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) April 26, 2017
Eriksen played more key passes (4) than any other player on the pitch to help earn a WhoScored rating of 8.19 as Spurs kept the pressure on Chelsea at the top of table. Palace, though, certainly made it difficult for their north London neighbours. Even with Spurs pressing, January arrival Luka Milivojevic did all he could to ensure an uncomfortable night for the away side. He made more interceptions (8) than any other player on the pitch and the joint-most tackles (4) to perform the necessary nitty-gritty work that is vital for Allardyce side.
Defeat tonight will have been a blow for Palace after their superb run, but Spurs dug deep to grind out the three points, which will have come as a boost after a FA Cup exit at the hands of Chelsea. With the final north London derby at White Hart Lane on the horizon, victory at Selhurst Park was just the shot in the arm Spurs required.
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