Tottenham player ratings vs Crystal Palace: Djed Spence struggles as rotated team suffer derby defeat | OneFootball

A poor performance from a Spurs side with one eye on bigger priorities

Tottenham slumped to a record 20th defeat in a Premier League season as Crystal Palace ran out deserving 2-0 winners thanks to Eberechi Eze’s double.

With Spurs full focused on the Europa League Final against Manchester United in 10 days time, a rotated XI were no match for Palace, who had two goals disallowed before Eze broke the deadlock with a tap-in on the stroke of half-time.

The England international double the Eagles’ lead three minutes after the restart with another cool, side-foot finish to continue Spurs’ dreadful League form.

Here’s how we rated the Spurs players at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Antonin Kinsky 5

Denied Jean-Phillipe Mateta twice and Eddie Nketiah late on, but was jittery and did not inspire confidence.

Pedro Porro 7

Went close with a free-kick and made a great chance for Pape Matar Sarr with an excellent cross. One of the only players adding creativity to the side.

Kevin Danso 5

Repeatedly went walkabout, leaving wide open spaces at the back and was easily skinned by Mateta at one point. That said, he made a couple of important blocks.

Ben Davies 7

Constantly had to cover for the wandering Danso and Djed Spence, leaving him stretched and short of passing options.

Ben Davies had his work cut out against Crystal Palace

AFP via Getty Images

Djed Spence 3

Repeatedly caught wildly out of position as Palace launched attack after attack down their right flank. Feels cruel to single out any player in white but he was especially shambolic.

Rodrigo Bentancur 6

One of Spurs’ better players in the first half but the bar was low. Hooked at half-time as Postecoglou manages minutes before the Final.

Archie Gray 5

Bypassed in midfield as Spurs were overrun. Will be interesting to see what he could do in his preferred position for a functioning team.

Pape Matar Sarr 5

Not a natural No10 so can be forgiven for his lack of impact in the first hour. Might have done better with a back post header from Porro’s cross.

Wilson Odobert 4

Anonymous in the first half but picked up a little after the break. Started on the winger and played the final half-hour at No10, suggesting he may be the contingency if Dejan Kulusevski is not fit for the final.

Mathys Tel 5

Lively but lacking end product. Produced a couple of eye-catching dribbles but little else.

Dejan Kulusevski 6

Forced off inside 20 minutes with a suspected knee injury following a heavy challenge from Marc Guehi. Spurs will now be sweating on his fitness for Bilbao.

Subs

Mikey Moore (Kulusevski 19’) 5

Lacked service and was shrugged off the ball when he did get in good areas.

Yves Bissouma (Bentancur 46’) 5

Struggled to shore up a holey Spurs midfield.

Heung-min Son (Porro 58’) 5

Returned to the side in a huge injury boost. Lifted the crowd but looked rusty and dithered in a good position when he should have squared for Moore.

Not used: Vicario, Richarlison, Romero, Solanke, Johnson, van de Ven.