Tottenham punish Jean-Philippe Mateta’s moment of madness to earn third straight win

Resurgent Tottenham made it three Premier League wins in a row for the first time in 20 months with a comfortable 2-0 victory over 10-man Crystal Palace.

Buoyed by only a second triumph at Chelsea in 36 years last weekend, Spurs’ task was made more routine by a 13th-minute red card for Palace forward Jean-Philippe Mateta for a studs-up tackle on Micky van de Ven.

VAR intervened to assist referee Michael Oliver and it was largely one-way traffic after with Archie Gray able to open the scoring with a header after 25 minutes.

Roberto De Zerbi’s team started the second half impressively and eventually doubled their lead with 17 minutes left through former Brighton centre-back Jan Paul van Hecke.

It allowed De Zerbi to hand a league debut to Spurs’ teenager Luca Williams-Barnett on an enjoyable night for the north London club, but this latest defeat will increase the scrutiny on under-fire Palace boss Pierre Sage.

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