Tottenham Hotspur fell to a ninth home defeat in the league, and dropped to 17th in the table, as Crystal Palace completed the Premier League double over their London rivals with a dominant win.
With both clubs having little to play for in the league and also having cup finals coming up, there was not much jeopardy other than injuries and points totals.
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As if to ram home that point, Ange Postecoglou made eight changes from the side that reached the Europa League final with victory in their semi-final on Thursday.
Palace were the more attacking side throughout and had two disallowed strikes before Eberechi Eze put them in front and then doubled the lead in the second half.
The Europa League final against Manchester United is the last remaining priority for Spurs this season, so Dejan Kulusevski going off is a concern that Postecoglou could do without. One positive was the return of Son Heung-min, who made his first appearance since the beginning of April.
Jay Harris breaks down the match.
What did Postecoglou learn from the changes?
Postecoglou made eight changes to his starting XI after Thursday night’s victory over Bodo/Glimt in the second leg of their Europa League semi-final. Goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky made his first appearance since a 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa on February 9 while the entire back four was rested apart from Pedro Porro. Archie Gray made only his third start in midfield while Mathys Tel, Wilson Odobert and Kulusevski formed a dysfunctional front three.
Kinsky made some good saves to deny Chris Richards, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Eddie Nketiah but he looked awkward in possession. When the Czech Republic Under-21 international joined Spurs in January it felt like his passing range was far superior to first-choice goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario. The 22-year-old kept putting himself in trouble with bad touches and misplaced passes though.
Gray had a difficult afternoon. The 19-year-old has had a strange debut season. He has been bumped around different positions to fill gaps when other players have been injured. This was only his third start in his preferred position of central midfield.
Gray started brightly by anticipating a loose pass into Eze, striding forward with the ball and finding Tel on the edge of the box but after that he struggled to make an impact. When he dropped back to right-back after Porro was substituted, he booted multiple passes out of play as he struggled under pressure from Palace. Kevin Danso produced an erratic performance too but maybe we should not be surprised when this group of players are thrown together sporadically without a chance to play regularly and build chemistry.
It has been clear for weeks which players are in Postecoglou’s preferred XI. None of the fringe players who featured on Sunday did anything to enhance their claims for an unexpected start in Bilbao.
(Vince Mignott/MB Media/Getty Images)
Major Kulusevski concerns
There are a couple of players in Tottenham Hotspur’s squad who need to play in the Europa League final because there are no quality alternatives.
Dominic Solanke is integral at leading the line and defending from the front, Micky van de Ven’s incredible recovery pace is crucial to Postecoglou’s high line while Dejan Kulusevski provides the creativity.
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With Lucas Bergvall and James Maddison ruled out of the final through injury, it was crucial that Kulusevski built up his sharpness and came through unscathed from Sunday’s game against Crystal Palace but instead disaster struck.
The Sweden international took a shot in the 12th minute under pressure from Will Hughes. He looked in pain for a few seconds but continued. A couple of minutes later though, he was caught late by Palace’s captain Marc Guehi. Kulusevski dropped to the floor and received treatment from Tottenham’s medical staff on his right knee.
Kulusevski had to go off against Palace in the first half (Julian Finney/Getty Images)
The 24-year-old stood up, tried to run and signalled to the bench that he could not continue. Kulusevski walked straight down the tunnel, accompanied by a member of the backroom staff and his team-mate Yves Bissouma.
Kulusevski has only just returned from a foot injury and this fixture was supposed to give him valuable game time. Now Spurs face the prospect of competing in a final without their three most creative midfielders. Kulusevski and Maddison offer a goal threat, and have both scored against United already this season, while Bergvall has been their most consistent performer since Christmas. Tottenham’s season has been disrupted by an injury crisis and perhaps it was inevitable that the curse would strike them one more time.
Left-sided weakness exploited
Daniel Munoz was a constant menace for Palace. Every time the right wing-back received the ball, he darted forward into space and whipped dangerous crosses into the box.
Munoz was up against Djed Spence who was Tottenham’s best player for a couple of months at the start of the year. Spence was defensively solid, despite predominantly playing at left-back when he is right-footed, and composed on the ball when he moved into central areas.
Spence has started the last nine league games in a row but you get the suspicion that his confidence has been knocked by being overlooked for Destiny Udogie in the quarter-final and semi-final of the Europa League.
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Postecoglou encourages his full-backs to push forward and Spence was punished every time on Sunday. For Palace’s second goal, Eze received the ball in the centre of the pitch and poked it through for Sarr who was completely free on the right wing. Spence raced back to block the forward’s shot but Sarr then set up Eze for a simple finish.
Spence had a tough time against Palace (Vince Mignott/MB Media/Getty Images)
Spence is not completely to blame. Oliver Glasner’s 3-4-3 formation is designed to overload the opposition and there were too many times Spence followed Sarr and nobody picked up Munoz. The 24-year-old needed more help from Mathys Tel and then Mikey Moore as well as the central midfield.
Looking ahead to the Europa League final, United’s head coach Ruben Amorim will have taken notes on how much Spurs struggled to deal with Palace’s formation. Amorim uses a similar system and Postecoglou has just over a week to come up with a counterplan.
What next for Spurs?
Friday, May 16: Aston Villa (Away), Premier League, 7.30pm UK, 2.30pm ET
(Top photo: John Walton/PA Images via Getty Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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