Tottenham Hotspur 1-3 Crystal Palace: Van de Ven red sends Spurs careening towards relegation zone

Three goals in eight minutes, that’s all it took for Tottenham Hotspur’s bleak season to go from bad to worse, with the side losing 3-1 to Crystal Palace on Thursday.

Entering the midweek match with stakes as high as ever — with relegation survival battlers of Nottingham Forest picking up a 2-2 draw over Manchester City and West Ham beating Fulham 1-0, both on Wednesday — Spurs knew the consequences that faced them.

Not having won a Premier League match since the 1-0 away win at Crystal Palace before the turn of the calendar, Spurs made four new changes, with 18-year-old Souza getting his first start and the likes of Kevin Danso, Pape Sarr, and Mathys Tel earning call-ups to the XI from Igor Tudor.

Leaving themselves with no room for error, Spurs almost found themselves down 1-0 in the first minute when a Palace throw-in and bounce around in the box saw Adam Wharton connect on a volley to force Guglielmo Vicario to react fast and parry the ball out of danger.

In danger within minutes of the match, Spurs had a real error in defense when Souza picked up a quick yellow on a rash challenge on Daniel Munoz that caused the right wing-back to hold his shoulder in pain. Trying to play it off and connecting on a half volley attempt when he came back on the field, Munoz had to be subbed off in the 14th minute.

From then on, the match went wild as Palace believed they drew first blood in the match off a fast counter-attack down the right as Strand Larsen freed Guessand. Believing to be offside when he received the ball past Micky van de Ven, Guessand found the blistering Ismaïla Sarr with Pedro Porro to beat. Getting his shot off as Porro slid in for a challenge, the ball bounced off the Spaniards thigh and lobbed into the back post with Vicario seemingly frozen from his attempt to challenge the shot.

Bleak and silent as Spurs were down 1-0, VAR ruled Sarr was offside by the top of his head — felt more than that — but Spurs were given a second chance at doing something useful with the opportunity.

From being possibly down 1-0 to up 1-0 in a span of four minutes, Spurs put hope into the fans with a brilliant display from the young players. Earlier in the match, Tel had the first shot on target that caused a quick spillage from Dean Henderson, and after his second shot earned a corner kick, Tel and Souza worked a quick corner routine for the Frenchman to deliver a ball into the box. Going long in the box for Archie Gray at the back post, the player who will play anywhere for the club, the 19-year-old controlled the ball on his turn before taking a touch past Wharton near the goal line and firing in a cross for a first-time strike by Dominic Solanke in the six-yard box for a 1-0 lead.

Riding the roller coaster of Tottenham Hotspur brings out all the emotions in one person, but with the stakes are at its highest to just stay in the first division, something the club has done every year since the 1977 relegation, and within a span of eight minutes, the players threw it away.

Believing he had the opening goal of the match a mere four minutes before Spurs, Sarr found space behind the back-three of Spurs and, winning a touch past VDV and hooked on the arm by the Dutchman, the winger went down quickly and won a penalty. Without hesitation, referee Andy Madley pulled out a red card for the Spurs captain.

As van de Ven showed his frustration while walking off the pitch — just as Cristian Romero was due back for the Liverpool match after serving his four league match suspension — Sarr sent Vicario the wrong way and tied the match at 1.

Two minutes later, Palace took the lead as Tel gave the ball away just in front of the team’s box and Wharton slotted in a quick first-time strike for Jorgen Strand Larsen to bury, the stat popped up on the screen of it being the 12th error lead goal by Spurs this season … a league high.

Sarr picked up a brace a minute before halftime as he outpaced the newly subbed on Connor Gallagher and dinked it past the charging Vicario for a 3-1 Palace lead at the break.

As the third goal of the night was let in, Porro could be seen crashing out on Vicario as the keeper has made rash judgement throughout his time in net for Spurs, and Porro seemed to have had enough of it.

Fans rang down boos from the stands of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and many even decided to call it a night as the shots from outside the stadium saw many leaving what continues to be a deflating time for the club.

The second half amounted to nothing more than just frustration as a shot on target from Solanke was saved strongly by Henderson, Porro got clattered multiple times before coming off in the 77th minute and letting his frustration out on the dugout.

It’s a dark time for all who support the club, but praise goes to Archie Gray for being a true professional and plugging in anywhere on the pitch as he made an impact with his assist to Solanke. But, the performance will be overlooked and should for that matter as another defeat leaves the club one point above the relegation zone.

Champions League football is up next with the side heading to Madrid for the first leg contest against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday.