Tottenham Hotspur underlined the rapid progress they are making under the new coach Antonio Conte after their two goals in a space of two minutes set up a 3-0 win against Crystal Palace. They are now unbeaten in six consecutive games, which include four victories, since the arrival of Conte and have speedily moved up the Premier League table to put pressure on the race for a top four finish.
Conte said: “I’m very pleased all three of our strikers scored but they have to say thank you to the rest of the team. We have to continue to improve. We know we have a big job to do. It’s good to get three points, to score with your three strikers and keep a clean sheet. But we know we have to work very hard to improve. We could have scored more but there were a lot of positives.”
Speaking about Spurs’ leading striker, Harry Kane, Conte said: “I always say we are talking about a top-class striker and a player that for us is very important. Today I had the possibility to give him a bit of rest and for him to play only 60 minutes for us was important. Kane is a player it is very difficult to decide to put in a rotation.”
Palace, had to play a long period with ten men with their star player Wilfried Zaha sent off in the 37th minute after lashing out at Davison Sanchez. They missed a chance for an early lead when Jordan Ayew sent a blazing shot over the bar in the opening minute.
Thereafter, spurs had much the better of the game and opened the scoring in the 32nd minute when Lucas Moura, who had missed a chance to score in the 25th minute, putting his header wide, outpaced the Palace defence to send a perfect cross for Kane to take a shot on the run.
Two minutes later, 5ft 7in tall Moura added the second when he met an excellent cross from Emerson Royal, outjumping 6ft 4in Joachim Anderson and heading powerfully into the net. With Zaha shown the red card, three minutes later – he had earlier been given the yellow card for a foul on the same player – Palace were clearly disadvantaged with Spurs gaining more control of the game.
They put the result beyond doubt in the 74h minute with Moura crossing perfectly for Son Heung-Min to flick a first-time shot past the Palace goalkeeper. The visitors were without their manager Patrick Viera who tested positive for Covid-19 along with several players and their request for a match postponement had been refused as, according to the rules, they still had 14 fit players in the squad.
Assistant coach, Osian Robert said: “It is difficult at the moment because of the situation and all the uncertainty. I don’t know how many players we have with Covid or returning from Covid. But we are professional people, we have to adapt at short notice and prepare the best we can.”
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