Kane and Lloris Tottenham’s best players… again. Eriksen poor.
Tottenham Hotspur threw away a second-half lead as their surrendered their seven-game unbeaten run with a 2-1 defeat at Crystal Palace on Saturday night.
Harry Kane fired Spurs in front on 49 minutes, but a penalty from Dwight Gayle and a late strike from Jason Puncheon – following a great run by Wilfried Zaha – turned the game on its head.
SEE MORE: (Video) Crystal Palace 2-1 Tottenham Highlights – Zaha Magic Wins It.
Here’s how Mauricio Pochettino’s men rated at Selhurst Park:
GK: Hugo Lloris – 7/10
Made an excellent save to thwart Glenn Murray in the first half, as well as a solid block to stop Wilfried Zaha making it 3-1 late in the match.
RB: Kyle Walker – 4.5/10
Clumsily handled the ball in the box, causing Palace players and fans to scream “penalty”, which it probably was.
LB: Danny Rose – 6/10
Extremely tenacious.
CB: Federico Fazio – 6.5/10
Seems much more confident than when he first arrived in England. He was very comfortable in possession, bringing the ball out of defence on a couple of occasions.
CB: Jan Vertonghen – 6/10
Neat and tidy.
CM: Mousa Dembele – 5.5/10
Coasted through the game, making a few nice touches here and there. Standard Dembele.
CM: Benjamin Stambouli – 6.5/10
Stambouli was one of Tottenham’s top performers – he was excellent in the first half – but he spoiled his good work by giving away a penalty, which gave Palace a route back into the game.
AM: Andros Townsend – 4.5/10
Fairly anonymous throughout his 70-minute appearance, which ended when he was replaced by Etienne Capoue.
AM: Christian Eriksen – 5/10
Gave the ball away twice in the build-up to Puncheon’s goal. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he let Zaha dance past him with ease.
AM: Nacer Chadli – 6/10
Chadli caused Palace’s backline problems on quite a few occasions. He set up Kane’s goal and had a soft penalty claim, correctly, turned down.
ST: Harry Kane 7.5/10
Kane was starved of space for most of the game, as Palace doubled – sometimes tripled – up on him. However, when he did get a yard of space he made it count, smashing in his seventh goal in eight games. He was also unlucky not to get a penalty kick late on.
Subs:
Roberto Soldado – 6/10
He replaced Stambouli for the last 15 minutes and made a couple of very decent touches, but, unfortunately, neither led to a goal.
Etienne Capoue – 5/10
Why he was brought on for Townsend moments after Palace’s equaliser, only Pochettino knows.