Crystal Palace vs Tottenham 21/22

Hi everyone,

Hope you are all well.

Palace were back in action this week in the Premier League, for our 4th consecutive London derby. On Saturday 11th of September 2021 we hosted Tottenham at Selhurst Park. It was our first early kick off of the season, starting at 12.30; we arrived there slightly earlier than normal because there were some issues with the tickets and turnstiles, leaving the queues to be crazy, but because we have a separate entrance we got in with no issues. If you are attending any Premier League games definitely arrive early because I know most teams are having trouble adapting. Once we arrived at our seat there was a BT presenting station set up right in front of us, with Rio Ferdinand and Peter Crouch as the guests. There were a lot of people down the front of the stand getting photos as the Palace games are not normally shown on TV, so this was rare.

Tottenham were unbeaten in their first 3 Premier League games, including a 1-0 victory over Manchester City. This caused a lot of nerves pregame, and I was very unconfident about the games result (how wrong was I😉). If Palace played how they did in the second half against West Ham it would be a very interesting game! There was a minute silence before kick-off to remember those who lost their lives in 9/11.

The game kicked off at 12.30 and it was surprisingly really warm! Once again it was a sold out Selhurst Park, the atmosphere was amazing from the first whistle. There was a very early substitution for Tottenham, as keeper Lloris rolled the ball out to Dier who had pressure on him from Ayew, the ball was just in front of the defender meaning he had to stretch, catching Ayew and rolling his ankle in the process. He was replaced by Joe Rondon, he is a little less experienced which could benefit Palace. Foul conceded by Dele Alli, which Gallagher took but his attempt went flying over the bar, this was kind of the story of his game in terms of his shots, but he still had a great game running the midfield. In the later stages of the half Zaha started to really come alive and show his full potential, 2 of his shots being so close to the goal before one was finally deflected out for our first corner of the game. Gallagher was once again taking all of our set pieces, Spurs were able to deal with the 2 fast consecutive corners, but we really did look extremely dangerous, and Tottenham were struggling to cope. You could see Tottenham were getting frustrated as pockets of space were being found by Palace, a lot of fouls were awarded to us as they tried to stop attacks. There were multiple occasions where there was a clear opening through for Ward to play the ball into Gallagher who made some brilliant runs, meaning he would’ve been through on goal, but Ward’s decision making didn’t react in time and chose the alternative option. Just before half-time we had a huge chance, a long ball up field from Anderson found Zaha, who easily span past the Tottenham defender like he wasn’t there, before charging into the box and playing the ball into the feet of Gallagher who was awaiting at the near post, the keeper did just enough to prevent the ball crossing the line with his legs, but we really did deserve a goal! The whole of the first half was an incredible half for us creating so many chances (7 to be exact, compared to 0 from Spurs), I didn’t want the half to end! Every player was putting their bodies on the line and really were playing for the team always fighting to win the ball back, it was so nice to see. Tottenham were very poor for the first half, but the one player I was slightly concerned about was Lucas Moura as he seemed to be the only one providing attacking threat. 0-0 at half time but we definitely deserved more!

During half time the staff returned to ask if the disabled people wanted any food, this wasn’t available last game, but I think is a great way to make match days easier, as the pub can get very busy at times. I was talking to my auntie during the break, and we were both so surprised/happy with the performance that was being shown by the team. As I previously mention Rio Ferdinand was directly in front of us, so I managed to get a photo with him while they weren’t filming.

We were hoping for the second half to begin with the same momentum, and we weren’t let down. Some great early defending from Mitchell, the young man had a fantastic game, not only doing his job defensively but also being there as an attacking option, and linking up brilliantly with Zaha, just like in the West Ham game. Tottenham’s first shot came in the second half, as predicted by Moura, it was straight into the arms of Guaita who had a really simple job this afternoon. Palace responded by going straight up the other end as Zaha pinged the ball into Benteke who was in the box, his flick was met by Gallagher who’s shot was blocked and sent out for a corner, nothing came from this. There was an incident between Tanganga and Zaha, as Wilf was through but was shoved to the floor before he could reach the ball, this caused a scrap between the teams. Arguably Tanganga should’ve been sent off there, one yellow, or even straight red, for the foul and then one for the aftermath and being in Zaha’s face, but the ref settled it by giving them both a yellow card. Some people are saying Zaha could’ve been sent off too, but I feel his retaliation was caused by an unfair and unnecessary foul, by a player who simply struggled to handle him the whole game, a yellow card was a fair decision. The free kick was wasted as the ball didn’t find any Palace players. Spurs really struggled to get out of their half, and this was not helpful for previously booked Tanganga, he played a loose ball in the midfield and as he tried win it back, but completely missed the ball and instead took Ayew out, leaving the ref with no option but to send him off minutes after his previous foul. The classic ‘cheerio’ chant sang round the stadium as he left the pitch, leaving Tottenham with 10 men, I bet players haven’t missed playing in front of fans in these situations. In the 67th minute Viera made his first substitution bringing on Milivojevic for Kouyate, the captain had been missing for a few weeks due to family reasons, so this was his first time playing competitively this season, it was nice to finally have him back. The boys in red and blue were playing the ball round the box nicely, the ball fell to Mitchell who was awaiting on the edge of the box with so much space, he took on the defender making his way into the box before whipping the ball in, his looping cross was so close to finding its way under the crossbar, but it was just cleared by the defender. The whole of Selhurst park was on their feet, it seemed so close to our first goal! Wilf and Conor played a perfect one-two around the Spurs players before finding their way into the box, Gallagher’s cross was stopped by the hand of Ben Davis, leaving the ref to point to the spot and award us a penalty! It was really hard to see what had actually happened as we were at the other end, but it was a clear and obvious hand ball as his hand was away from his body. In the 76th minute the responsibility was given to Zaha, to step up for our first penalty of the season, and of course he buried it in the back of the net. The stadium erupted and were 1-0 up, it was so deserved! Luka was on the pitch, but yet Zaha still took the penalty, maybe this means he will be our new penalty taker for the season. The defenders did so well to keep Tottenham quiet for the whole game, Guehi used his strength a couple times to even hold off Harry Kane and the Tottenham main man was barely even in the game, Marc can definitely say he left the pitch with Kane in his pocket :). In the final 10 minutes of the game Moura was finally booked, I feel it should’ve been much sooner with the amount of fouls he conceded in the first half. The second Palace substitution came in the 83rd minute with Benteke being replaced by new signing Edouard, it only took him 25 seconds to make an impact! Zaha steamed clear down the left, before launching the ball low into the path of the sub, after taking one touch he fired it into the bottom corner, that’s what you call an instant impact! Once again, the stadium erupted, it was even louder this time, crazy scenes but that’s the exact reason we spend 14 million on him! Our third and final substitution came in the 87th minute, Ayew being replaced by Olise, this was another debut and after being injured for the start of the season it was finally the 19-year-olds time to shine, I along with all the Palace fans am extremely excited to see what he can do for us, especially with the likes of Zaha already in the team. In the closing staged every time Tottenham had the ball, Palace worked so hard to instantly win it back, if we continue this form, we can do great things and hurt big teams just like today! Palace were on the attack again in the 3rd minute of stoppage time, Luka spread the ball perfectly out wide to Olise who had so much space, he could run down the wing before playing the ball into Gallagher who was in the box, a clear path was opened and Conor effortlessly played it into the path of Edouard, the defending was too little too late, and once again Edouard was on the score sheet for the second time today, his shot was too hard for Lloris to keep out and it reached the back of the net! What a debut for him, and even Olise was involved in this goal, exciting times ahead for us Palace fans.

First league victory over Spurs in over 6 years, and what a way to get Viera his first victory as a Premier League manager against his old rivals. His tactics during the game were all done to perfection, and if we continue to play like that we shouldn’t have to worry about our opposition. Tottenham were poor on the day, but nothing should be taken away from the performance Palace gave and it definitely shouldn’t be undermined. On the bench was also newcomer Hughes, so hopefully he along with the 2 debutants are able to continue helping us improve for the rest of the season!

After the final whistle Rio and Peter returned to their station to do the post-match interviews, we predicted Viera and maybe some players would come out, so we waited in our seat for a while. We were correct, Viera came out to speak to them about the amazing result and I managed to get my first photo with him. Guaita and the unused subs also came out to do a warm down, so I got a photo with the keeper who had a very quiet and straightforward game.

Match stats:

• Palace had a total of 62.3% possession, Tottenham had 37.7%

• Palace had a total of 18 shots with 4 on target.

• Tottenham had 2 shots with 1 on target.

Palace’s next game is against Liverpool away, I am not attending this so my next post will be on the Brighton game on Monday 27th of September, so look out for that!

Thank you for reading

Ellie Xx