Tottenham Hotspur have edged into ninth place in the Premier League after Son Heung-min's goal confirmed a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace in Sunday's clash at White Hart Lane.
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The hosts were quickest off the starting blocks as good work from Dele Alli forced a corner, from which the unmarked Harry Kane nodded over from seven yards.
Mauricio Pochettino's charges dominated proceedings on the pitch in the first quarter of an hour and came close again when Erik Lamela beat his marker and forced a save from Alex McCarthy, with Kane failing to connect onto the rebound.
Palace soon worked their way into the game and saw Brede Hangeland force a save from Hugo Lloris in the 21st minute, before Yannick Bolassie charged past two Spurs defenders and won a corner with a deflected effort just outside the box.
The game continued to deliver flashes of goalmouth action past the half-hour mark, as McCarthy got down low to keep low an Alli drive, while at the other end Lloris acrobatically tipped Bakary Sako's free kick over the bar.
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On the stroke of half time the Eagles weighed in with the best chance of the game thus far when Yohan Cabaye's ferocious drive from the right smashed against the post, but ultimately it would be goalless at the break.
Just after the restart Son nearly opened the scoring when he sprinted 60 yards down the pitch to chase down a Palace backpass and ended up blocking the clearance, with the ball floating just wide of the open goal.
Lamela then curled a free kick around the wall and forced a good save from McCarthy in the 52nd minute, before his side saw a goal disallowed just before the hour, Kane being called offside when Ben Davies headed a rebound home.
In an increasingly intense and frantic game, Palace came within a whisker of opening the scoring through Sako's half-volley, but Lloris pulled off an acrobatic one-handed save to palm the ball onto the post and out.
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Eventually the deadlock was broken, and it fell the way of Spurs, with Son collecting Christian Eriksen's ball on the edge of the box 68 minutes in before weaving through the Palace defence and powering his effort into the back of the net.
Alli, enjoying a fruitful game, nearly got onto the scoresheet 10 minutes later when he singlehandedly marauded down to the edge of the box and fashioned a shot which flew inches wide of the right post.
The latter stages of the match were straightforward for Spurs, who were able to see off their opponents and clinch all three points to see them edge into the top 10 of the Premier League table, while Palace remain in eighth place.
Giuseppe Labellarte
