Crystal Palace midfielder James McArthur has insisted there were plenty of positives for his side to take away from Wednesday night’s 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur at Selhurst Park.

Wonder goal splits the sides

Christian Eriksen scored the only goal of the game for the visitors, an excellent long range drive in the 78th minute.

“There were a lot of positives from tonight’s performance, you have to look at how solid we look as a team,” McArthur said after the match.

“Added to that the threat of Wilf and Andros together with Benteke scoring goals of late so plenty to take from our game at the moment."

In a tight game, a piece of real quality was needed for either side to claim three points, and Eriksen strike was of the highest quality. Up until the goal, the home side had limited Tottenham to very few chances, continuing their fantastic defensive form.

"We defended very well as a team but they put us under a lot of pressure,” McArthur said.

“We did limit them to chances outside the box and they scored with one of those, a very good strike.”

A big blow for Palace during the game was the loss of defender Mamadou Sakho, who had to be stretchered off the pitch after an awkward tackle on Spurs striker Harry Kane.

McArthur himself has just returned to action after injury, and on his return he said: “It was nice to be back, that feeling of playing again is very nice and I need to just try and get myself back in the side again.”

Tough tests keep coming

Despite this defeat, Palace's form of late still makes good reading, as they have won six out of their last nine matches, including victories over Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool.

Although he was disappointed with the defeat, McArthur has said it is important not to dwell on it.

“It was gutting for us all to lose after all we put into the game but we go again as we have another tough game coming up on Saturday against Burnley and now have a couple of days to try and prepare for that one.”

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