Kane stars as clinical Tottenham put Crystal Palace to the sword

Tottenham moved to within two points of fourth placed Man Utd after a comfortable win over Crystal Palace. Palace were the better side in what was a quiet first half, but Tottenham were clinical in the second 45. Harry Kane headed in in the 48th minute and then struck again five minutes later. It was plain sailing from then on and Doherty ended any chance of a comeback with a goal in the 68th minute. Son's deflected effort then completed the scoring.

The first half was devoid of clear goalscoring opportunities, but Tottenham looked the brighter early on with plenty of dangerous moves forward. However, the final ball was lacking and Vicente Guaita in the Palace goal had little to do. Then, Palace picked up and were the stronger team in the final 20 minutes of the first period. 

Patrick Vieira's side got the first opportunity to score in the 27th minute when Wilfried Zaha weaved his way into the box and found Ayew, but Hugo Lloris saved his strike. Just after the half hour, Joachim Andersen had a pop from 25 yards, but the ball flied narrowly wide of the goalkeeper's left hand post. There was little else to report in the first 45 and the hosts went in happier at the interval. 

The second period began with Romero making a howler at the back, but Ayew was unable to capitalise. Then, just a couple of minutes later, Tottenham hit the front with practically their first opportunity of the contest. Son gave the ball to Bryan Gil who found Ivan Perisic in the box and the Croatian's cross was headed in by Harry Kane. It was a much needed goal for Conte's side and things got better for them five minutes later when Palace failed to clear a long ball forward, Gil passed to Kane and the Englishman made no mistake. 

 

January 4, 2023

Palace were stunned by the quickfire double and there was no looking back from that point onwards. Olise hit a curling effort wide of the post from just outside the box for the home side, but Matt Doherty made sure of the victory when he scored midway through the second period.  Kane passed to Son and the South Korean's pas was deflected into the path of Doherty who beat Guaita. 

Spurs struck once again just a few minutes later as Son Heung-Min got on the scoresheet himself although he was helped by a defensive error. Guehi misjudged a long ball forward, Son pounced on the loose ball and then Guehi, in an attempt to make amends, deflected Son's strike into the goal.  Palace had opportunities late on to net a consolation, but two good saves by  Lloris meant Tottenham walked away with the three points and a clean sheet to their name. 

In the other games, Nottingham Forest climbed out of the Premier League relegation zone courtesy of a precious 1-0 victory which heaped more misery on bottom club Southampton. Taiwo Awoniyi's goal earned Forest a first top-flight away success of the season to strengthen their survival hopes.

West Ham looked to be heading for a sixth straight Premier League defeat when they fell behind to Willy Gnonto's goal for Leeds just before the half-hour. But David Moyes' side drew level shortly before half-time through Lucas Paqueta's penalty after VAR had asked referee David Coote to view the pitchside monitor following a challenge on Jarrod Bowen. Gianluca Scamacca gave them the lead moments after the restart but Rodrigo equalised in the 70th minute to give Leeds a 2-2 draw. 

Finally, Daniel Podence fired Wolves into the lead at Villa Park but Danny Ings levelled in the 78th minute to ensure Wolves remained in the relegation zone.