It was frustrating as the game edged towards the end as Mauricio Pochettino was potentially staring at a draw away to Crystal Palace. However, Harry Kane stepped up as usual and scored the winner to secure all three points from a lopsided encounter at Selhurst Park. Here’s how the Spurs’ players fared in the game:
Hugo Lloris: 6/10
Crystal Palace sat back for major portions of the game and hardly ever thought of wandering ahead and hence Lloris was untested throughout the game.
Serge Aurier: 5/10
Aurier struggled to get his confidence right as his crosses into the box were usually thwarted away and he was caught off-position in defending as well. Moreover, he took three invalid throw-ins to further dent his performance.
Davinson Sanchez: 7/10
Sanchez used his pace and game awareness to good effect as he regularly shut down attacks and made his forays forward as Tottenham tried to breach Palace’s defence.
Eric Dier: 7/10
Dier was calm and composed during defending and kept Christian Benteke on his toes. Like Sanchez, Dier read the game well too and tracked back in time to maintain the defensive shape of the team.
Ben Davies: 7/10
Davies was commanding on the left flank as he regularly pushed forward to send in a cross or switched the play whenever he deemed it necessary. The Welshman was resolute in defence too and earned a penalty for his side.
Mousa Dembele: 6/10
Dembele went past players in the midfield with ease but failed to influence the game largely owing to the huge numbers that Palace deployed in the midfield.
Victor Wanyama: 5/10
The Kenyan was inexplicably slow with possession at times, something that is quite uncharacteristic of him. He is still making his way in from the long injury layoff and hence might require a lot of time to return to his old self.
Erik Lamela: 5/10
Lamela tried to surge inside the box with his pace but should have had a greater impact than he eventually had.
Christian Eriksen: 6/10
An inconsistent performance as the Dane misplaced some of his regular passes but constantly showed his flashes of brilliance too. Took an accurate corner in the build-up to the goal.
Dele Alli: 7/10
Alli used his fleet-footedness to trouble Palace’s backline that looked extremely tough to beat at times. The lad was a creative source in the game and looked like the safest bet to churn out something productive in the final third for the team.
Harry Kane: 7.5/10
Kane is a figure of confidence and composure in the same frame as the mere sight of the forward fills the fans with hopes that the man would secure something worthy in the end. Moreover, secure he did, by scoring a late header and hence matching his last season’s entire goal tally now itself.
Substitutes:
Lucas Moura: 6/10
Moura tried to stretch Palace’s backline but they were too resolute and effectively dealt with the Brazilian’s threat.
Son-Heung min: 6/10
Induced a bout of creativity and precision that was so badly missed in the game.
