Dele Alli scored possibly the goal of the season, as Tottenham Hotspur continued their march towards a top-four place, beating Crystal Palace 3-1 at Selhurst Park on Saturday afternoon.
Despite a Jan Vertonghen own goal giving the home side a lead, Spurs always looked in control, with Alli and Nacer Chadli sealing the win after Harry Kane had equalised.
Spurs go back to their usual 11
As expected, many changes were made to the Tottenham team that beat Leicester City in the FA Cup on Wednesday. The whole back-five was changed, with Hugo Lloris, Kieran Trippier, Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen and Danny Rose replacing Michel Vorm, Kyle Walker, Eric Dier (who moved back into midfield), Kevin Wimmer and Ben Davies.
In midfield, Mousa Dembele came in for Nabil Bentaleb, and the aforementioned Dier came in for Tom Carroll. Erik Lamela, who very much needed a rest, and Nacer Chadli came out of the team, with the front four consisting of Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen, Heung-Min Son and Harry Kane.
Pochettino's men start on top
The game started with Tottenham sharing the majority of the possession and getting comfortably into the game. The first shot of the game fell to Heung-Min Son from around 30 yards, but the Korean dragged it a few yards wide.
Another chance fell to the visitors in the 18th minute; Toby Alderweireld meet a corner in the middle of the box but his header flew across the goal and well wide of the post. The Belgian will be disappointed he didn't hit the target.
Vertonghen scores, at the wrong end
Despite Spurs' dominance, it was the hosts who took the lead. Palace are struggling to score at the moment, it was ironic so Spurs helped them out! Tottenham failed to clear their lines, allowing Wilfried Zaha to put in a cross which Vertonghen turned into his own net in an attempt to clear the ball at the near post, providing the Eagles’ first league goal in eight hours.
The best chance of the first-half fell to left back Danny Rose; the Englishman latched onto the end of a lofted ball at the back post and met it on the volley from eight yards out. However, the shot was straight at the goalkeeper and Wayne Hennessey, who has faced a lot of criticism of late, did brilliantly to save and hold onto the ball.
Six minutes after the restart, Eriksen came ever-so close with a spectacular effort. The Dane picked up the ball outside the box on the right, before hitting a swerving shot across goal. Hennessey could only watch and hope as the ball sailed agonisingly wide.
Kane levels up
Palace's resistance was finally broken in the 63rd minute as Chadli, who had recently been brought into the action, clipped in a cross from the left and Harry Kane rose high above Damien Delaney to head home. The goal had been coming, and it set up the game for an exciting last half an hour.
Tottenham were dealt a blow as Vertonghen hobbled off with the help of the physio; it looks like the Belgian could be sidelined for a couple of weeks. Kevin Wimmer was the man to replace him.
Palace couldn't have come closer in the 81st minute when Jason Puncheon's free-kick was headed against the bar by Scott Dann, and then Mile Jedinak's shot from the rebound took a slight deflection and hit the woodwork once again.
Alli and Chadli seal the win
It was Tottenham’s Dele Alli who got the third goal of the game; Eriksen headed the ball down for him, he took a touch, lifted it over Jedinak and then spectacularly volleyed the ball into the bottom corner from around 20 yards out, a certain goal of the season contender.
Tottenham weren't done yet, though. In the last minute of stoppage time, Chadli drifted inside from the left and hit a perfectly-placed shot from around 25 yards into the corner of the net, sealing all three points with a touch of genius.
An excellent performance and win for Mauricio Pochettino’s men, who cement their place in the top four of the Premier League. Tottenham’s confidence will be boosted even more with a very important win, and momentum for a possible title push is growing.