Tottenham 1-0 Crystal Palace player ratings, stats & reaction: Spurs star makes history, fans hail quality that could help them catch Manchester United & City

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Tottenham are back to winning ways in the Premier League.

Tottenham were made to work for a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace this afternoon, eventually overcoming Roy Hodgson’s side with a Son Heung-min winner.

The South Korean’s fine finish in the second half settled the contest at Wembley, putting Spurs level on points with title rivals Manchester United, who travel to Chelsea later today.

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Man of the match

With no one particularly standing out with any great moments of play, the accolades should perhaps go to the top work done by Tottenham’s Eric Dier today.

Playing as part of a back three, the England international made a great saving tackle to keep Palace out, and brought the ball out from the back with great quality at every opportunity.

While Dier is not everyone’s cup of tea, he has that Michael Carrick-like ability to keep his team ticking by keeping things simple, with much of his best contributions often going unnoticed.

In a tight game against a determined Palace side, Dier more than played his part in an important win for Tottenham.

Moment of the match

In a game that won’t go down as one of the great feasts of football, it’s probably this superb attempt at a foul by Andros Townsend.

Not content to just go in with a crunching two-footer or body-slam his opponent over, he deserves an award for an innovative wedgie on Moussa Sissoko.

We like to give plaudits to the likes of Ronaldinho for playing like he’s a kid in the playground, and this is basically the same. Sort of.

Stat of the match

Kudos to Son Heung-min, whose winning goal was his 20th in the Premier League, and thereby making him the all-time leading Asian goalscorer in the history of the competition.

Player ratings

Tottenham: Gazzaniga 7, Dier 8, Vertonghen 7, Sanchez 7, Winks 6, Sissoko 6, Eriksen 6, Aurier 7, Rose 6, Heung-min 7, Kane 6 / Subs: Dembele 6, Llorente 5

Crystal Palace: Speroni 6, Dann 6, Sakho 7, Ward 6, Schlupp 5, Fosu-Mensah 6, Milivojevic 6, Cabaye 5, Loftus-Cheek 6, Townsend 6, Zaha 6 / Subs: Sako 5

Reaction

Not exactly beaming joy from Tottenham fans, but also recognition of a job well done in the kind of victory that arguably shows the true mark of champions…

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