Palace 1-2 Spurs | Ange’s verdict: “It was a real challenge and I liked the way we went about it”

Persistence was key for Ange Postecoglou as we continued our unbeaten start to the Premier League campaign with a hard-earned 2-1 victory at Crystal Palace on Friday night.

Palace were as well organised as you’d expect and had the better sights of goal as the first half ended goalless - Guglielmo Vicario with two big saves to deny Jordan Ayew and Odsonne Edouard.

We started to take control in the second half and opened the scoring via an own goal on 53 minutes, Joel Ward turning James Maddison’s volley into his own net after good work down the right from Pape Matar Sarr.

Sarr was involved in the second goal as well, a thing of beauty on 66 minutes. The midfielder switched the play from right to left to Brennan Johnson, who nodded into the path of James Maddison, got the ball back and darted into the before squaring for Heung-Min Son to tap home.

We were in complete control when Palace pulled a goal back out of nowhere when Ayew controlled a cross and volleyed home in the fourth of the scheduled eight minutes of added time. VAR checked for a handball, but that decision went Palace’s way, and they then created a final chance in the 102nd minute, Matheus Franca blazing wide under pressure from Pedro Porro.

That was that though in SE25 as we made it eight wins and two draws from our 10 games so far to move five points clear at the top of the table ahead of the weekend matches.

Speaking to our Review Show from Selhurst Park, Ange told us: “I’m really pleased... it was never going to be an easy game tonight, coming here, they’re a really disciplined team, well organised defensively, it was never going to be an open game where we create a lot of chances.

“I thought the lads handled it really well, stayed focussed, played our football, waited for our opportunities, took them when they came, and our defensive work was outstanding as well.

“In games like this, it’s persistence that will get you the result, and we had to be persistent in terms of making runs where you don’t get the ball, but waiting for the opportunity where we did. Pape got into that area, and it was a great set up for the first goal.

“We then scored a similar second goal. Again, great focus to stick to our principles and get the job done. The second goal felt like a really nice goal, something we’ve worked on. Credit to the lads. That was during our most dominant period and our football was excellent. Palace had to open up and put some pressure on us and we handled it well. This was a real challenge for us and I liked the way we went about it.”