Many thanks to Declan Mulcahy for his comprehensive match report:-

Saturday 31 October 2026, 5:30pm
Premier League
Tottenham Hotspur (1) 2 Crystal Palace (0) 0

Scorers:-
Gray, 25 van Hecke, 73

Tottenham Hotspur (4-2-3-1):
31 A Kinsky; 14 A Gray (23 Pedro Porro 46), 6 J P van Hecke, 37 M van de Ven (c), 3 A Robertson (13 D Udogie 77); 18 M Fernandes, 16 S Tonali; 20 M Kudus, 22 O Marmoush (21 D Kulusevski 77), 11 M Tel (68 L Williams-Barnett 88); 19 D Solanke (8 C Gallagher 66).

Substitutes not used: 39 M Dubravka, 5 M Senesi, 33 B Davies, 10 J Maddison.

Booked: Gray (15 foul on Kamada)

Crystal Palace (3-4-2-1): Pierre Sage
1 D Henderson (c); 26 C Richards, 5 A Disasi, 6 J Canvot; 30 O Mingueza (25 A Khalaili 60), 20 A Wharton (8 J Lerma 88), 18 D Kamada (19 W Hughes 88), 3 T Mitchell; 11 D McNeil (24 D Osorio 77), 10 Y Pino (9 E Nketiah 60); 14 J-P Mateta.

Substitutes not used: 44 W Benitez, 33 B Chilwell, 28 C Doucoure, 29 E Guessand

Booked: Mingueza (53 foul on Tel)

Sent Off: Mateta (13 Serious foul play, foul on Van de Ven)

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Attendance: 60,549

Referee: Michael Oliver, Assistant Referees: Stuart Burt, James Mainwaring; Fourth Official: Matthew Corlett, VAR: Jarred Gillett, Assistant VAR: Richard West

Spurs provide Halloween treat

Tottenham Hotspur won their third consecutive Premier League game today. The 2-0 result didn't reflect what happened on the pitch. Spurs were totally dominant once Palace were reduced to ten men when Mateta was sent off with only thirteen minutes on the clock. Overall Spurs had 79% of possession and 34 shots to Palace's 2.

Before the match started the club held the traditional Remembrance Day ceremony to honour those who have died in the service of their country. Poppy wreaths were laid on the pitch and there was a period of silence during which The Last Post was played.

Roberto De Zerbi made only one change from last week's victory over Chelsea. James Maddison who went off with an injury on that occasion was replaced by Dominic Solanke with Omar Marmoush occupying the number 10 role. Maddison was on the bench but wasn't needed as Spurs totally controlled the game.

Crystal Palace have experienced a mixed season so far. They have been making progress in the Europa League and the League Cup. In contrast to Spurs they have been in action during the last two mid-week periods. However their Premier League form has been poor. Going into today's matches they were in 17th position in the league table. After eight games they have conceded 19 goals, including seven in the last two matches. That is the highest total they have given up at this point of a Premier League season.

So it wasn't surprising that Palace adopted a low block approach from the outset. Under the circumstances the next two major events were a surprise.

Palace had the first shot on target when a counter-attack set up Kamara whose attempt was palmed away by Kinsky. Another counter happened shortly afterward but Van de Ven recovered the ball. Mateta tried to dispossess him. He came across Van de Ven and made contact with his studs up. Referee Michael Oliver initially produced a yellow card. He was advised by VAR to view the incident on the pitch-side monitor and duly upgraded the offence to a red card.

From that point on the odds were heavily against Palace. They adjusted to a 5-3-1 formation with Pino the furthest forward and no striker on the pitch.

Spurs only booking came shortly after the red card when Archie Gray was booked for a tackle on Kamada.

Spurs were now dominating proceedings. Tel made a couple of runs. One cross was blocked. Another was nicely placed but Kudus couldn't connect with it.

Spurs were awarded a corner on the right. Kudus swung it towards the far post where Gray was unmarked and scored with a header to the opposite post. Given that Palace's main objective at this stage was to prevent Spurs from scoring it was a huge error to leave Gray unmarked.

Spurs dominated the rest of the half. After 42 minutes they had had 24 touches in Palace's box while Palace had none at the other end. However Spurs struggled to produce quality chances. The only other shot on target was a long range shot from Robertson which Henderson easily saved.

The only change that either side made at half time was Pedro Porro for Gray. It was surprising in that Gray had a reasonable first half. Possible reasons for the switch were that Gray was on a booking or perhaps it was planned before the game to give each player one half.

Spurs utterly dominated the first fifteen minutes of the second half. They had six shots in the first six minutes and 92% possession in the first 13 minutes. Among the more notable efforts were a shot from Solanke, set up by Porro which Henderson blocked. Fernandes had at least four attempts once of which hit Disasi's body. VAR decided it was the shoulder rather than the arm.

During this period Migueza was booked for an arm in Tel's face.

Palace tried to turn the tide by bringing on Khalaili and Nketiah for Mingueza and Pino on the hour mark. At least they now had a striker on the pitch in Nketiah. He received a hostile reception when he came on given his former Arsenal association.

Palace then had their best opportunity to draw level. Kamada set up McNeil in the box. It was a good opportunity but his shot was poor and hit Solanke instead of being goal bound.

De Zerbi made his first change with Conor Gallagher replacing Solanke. The former took over the number 10 role with Marmoush becoming the striker. The one-way traffic continued with Tel and Robertson having attempts on goal.

After 73 minutes Fernandes crossed from the left to the far side of the box. Van Hecke's header was on target. Henderson pushed it onto the bar. Both Henderson and van Hecke were on the ground the former in his net the latter just in front of the goal-line.

The ball bounced off the bar and again a couple of feet off the pitch. Van Hecke showed great presence of mind to rise high enough to direct a low header into the net which Henderson couldn't stop because he was behind the goal-line. This was van Hecke's third attempt on goal in twenty minutes the other two having been shots. He put the game out of sight for Palace and became Spurs leading league goal scorer after nine matches with two goals!

Kulusevski and Udogie replaced Marmoush and Robertson. As a result at times Kulusevski seemed to be playing as a false number 9.

Gallagher set up Kudus who put the ball in the net but the effort was disallowed because he was offside.

Luca Williams-Barnett replaced Tel to make his Premier League debut with two minutes of normal time remaining. He was very lively and made several good runs. He produced a fine cross for Kudus who had the goal at his mercy. The latter managed to shoot wide when it was easier to score. It was unfortunate since it deprived the young Luca of an assist on his Premier League debut. Based on this performance he should be seen more often later in Premier League games.

As at Stamford Bridge last week Mateus Fernandes had a major influence on the effectiveness of the team and he and Tonali are developing into a fine midfield partnership.

Given their dominance Spurs should have scored more goals. Had Maddison been introduced the score-line probably would have been higher. However there was also a benefit to the team winning fairly easily while Maddison could have a rest.

Among the positives from today's result were the following:

Spurs have won three successive Premier League for the first time since February 2025 while Roberto De Zerbi had won three successive Premier League games for just the second time after September 2023 while at Brighton.

Prior to these three wins it took them team 26 Premier League games to win the previous three.

The last time Spurs won two consecutive Premier League home games was two years ago on November 3, 2024

They currently sit in eighth position in the league table. Aston Villa had the opportunity later in the day to rise above them but failed. They will finish the weekend either eighth (if Newcastle United and Everton draw) or ninth (if one of those teams wins that match). The last time Spurs were as high as ninth was Monday 24 November 2025 after the 12th round of matches.

Spurs expected xG for 3.26 was their highest in a league game since 28 September 2024 against Manchester United.

Spurs had 34 shots in this match which is the most they've had in a Premier League game since February 2016 (34 vs Swansea)

They also had had 79.4 per cent possession, their second-highest on record (since 2003-04) in a Premier League match (80.2 per cent vs Newcastle in August 2019).

While the following is not ranked as an achievement it should be noted that Spurs (Coventry City, Chelsea and Crystal Palace) became the first team since Burnley in March/April 2018 (West Ham United, West Bromwich Albion and Watford) to win three consecutive Premier League games against sides all beginning with the same letter!

This performance puts a lot of pressure on Pierre Sage the new Crystal Palace manager. They have lost the last three Premier League matches conceding nine goals and scoring none and are now in relegation zone. Their cup performances may not be enough to save his job.

Spurs can focus on positive things. They need to take maximum points from the next four winnable games on either side of the international break; Leeds United (a), Ipswich Town (h), Sunderland (a) and Fulham (h). Momentum from these matches could help with the more challenging December fixtures against Arsenal, Liverpool and Brighton & Hove Albion.

October has been a very satisfactory month with the team winning ten points out of a possible twelve.

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