Yes, it is the season of goodwill — but unfortunately for Crystal Palace their Boxing Day opponents weren’t feeling very festive. Tottenham was ruthless here, with no Christmas spirit whatsoever.
Without head coach Patrick Vieira, who tested positive for Covid, Palace was fearing the worst, illustrated by their attempts to have this game postponed. Their efforts fell on deaf ears with the Premier League and Antonio Conte’s men were just as unsympathetic.
Jack Butland was at full stretch to deny Son Heung-min’s low shot in the third minute before Oliver Skipp saw his effort whizz narrowly wide soon after. And it wasn’t long before Tottenham were ahead. Lucas Moura’s perfect square ball was dispatched by Harry Kane. It was the England captain’s third top-flight goal of the season, a dismal return given his standards.
However, this was Kane’s second Premier League goal in as many matches.
Moura turned goal scorer just two minutes later as he sprang emphatically, from a running jump, above Joachim Anderson to nod home Emerson Royal’s cross. Roberts, assisted by highly-rated first-team coach Shaun Derry, will have asked questions as to how Moura, at 5ft 7in, was able to beat 6ft 4in Andersen in aerial combat.
But that was a mere sideshow, all that mattered was that Spurs were home and hosed within 34 minutes. Moura has been one of the standout performers during the Conte revolution so far. The 29-year-old Brazilian enters the final two years of his contract this summer. On this evidence, Tottenham should be looking to secure his long-term future as a matter of priority.
If Palace harbored any hopes of a comeback, they were dashed by the petulance of Zaha who inexplicably threw his hands in the face of Sanchez to pick up a second yellow in the 37th minute. The look on the Ivorian’s face suggested that he’d been the victim of an outrageous injustice.
You would imagine that Zaha will revise his opinion upon seeing the incident again. That would have been cause for zero consolation to Palace, who shifted into damage- limitation mode.
The second half was a non-event, Conte using the opportunity to rest key men Kane and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Southampton.
Yet there was still room for a Tottenham third. Moura set up Son to score with his final touch before being substituted in the 75th minute to put the result beyond any doubt.