Tottenham beat ten-man Crystal Palace 2-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with Archie Gray heading in before half-time and Jan Paul van Hecke adding a scrappy second. Jean-Philippe Mateta’s 13th-minute red card decided the game and left pressure on Palace manager Pierre Sage.
London, England: Roberto De Zerbi’s side were handed the afternoon by a single challenge, then took it with the patience of a team that knew the hard part was already done. Tottenham finished with 79.4 per cent of the possession and a third straight Premier League win.
The tackle that changed the game
Barely a quarter of an hour had gone when Mateta slid in on Micky van de Ven and caught the back of his heel with his studs. Referee Michael Oliver first reached for a yellow card. Then VAR called him to the monitor, and the decision became a red for serious foul play.
Palace, already reeling from two straight league defeats, had to play the rest of the afternoon with ten men. The Frenchman now faces a three-match ban, which will keep him out of the next game against Liverpool, a match Palace host on Sunday 8 November.
Gray arrives at the far post
Tottenham did not rush. They moved the ball patiently, pinned Palace back and waited for the opening to come from a set piece. It arrived about a dozen minutes after the red card. Mohammed Kudus swung a corner to the far post, where Gray found himself unmarked and headed in. It was the only goal before the interval.
Palace barely threatened afterwards. They finished with just 20.6 per cent of the ball, a figure that showed how little they were able to do with their numerical disadvantage and their stretched defensive line.
Van Hecke settles it
The second goal was far from pretty. In the 73rd minute, Van Hecke was on hand to score from a rebound inside the box, a scrappy finish that nonetheless ended any hope of a Palace comeback. Afterwards, he credited De Zerbi for getting the best out of him and said there was more to come from the group.
The win lifted Tottenham to eighth in the table and continued a turnaround that began with their first league win of the season, a 3-1 victory over Coventry City. Having started the campaign slowly, they now sit in the top half.
Questions for Sage
For Palace, the picture is grimmer. A third consecutive league defeat, with no goals scored in any of the three, dropped them into the bottom three. Sky Sports reported that the club’s decision-makers are moving closer to a managerial change, leaving Sage’s position under real threat as Liverpool arrive next. Without Mateta, he will have to find goals from elsewhere.
Result: Tottenham Hotspur 2, Crystal Palace 0 (Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, 31 October 2026)
Goals: Gray (first half, header from a Kudus corner), Van Hecke (73rd minute, rebound)
Red card: Jean-Philippe Mateta (Crystal Palace, 13th minute, serious foul play)
Next: Crystal Palace host Liverpool on Sunday 8 November
