C PALACE TOTTENHAM
JUAN FOYTH atoned for his Premier League debut horror show with the goal that piled on the misery for Crystal Palace.
The Argentinian, 20, handed Wolves both goals in Tottenham’s 3-2 victory at Molineux last Saturday, conceding two penalties.
So clumsy were both that Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino would have been forgiven for leaving him out yesterday after bringing in Davinson Sanchez for the midweek Champions League victory over PSV Eindhoven.
He kept faith with his compatriot, however, and found the Foyth was very much with him this time out as his 66th-minute header compounded Palace’s miserable home record this campaign. This made it six games with no wins – and, alarmingly, no goals from open play for Roy Hodgson’s (below) men.
And few among the home fans would have expected any different as they filed in to Selhurst Park to find Wilfried Zaha had not made the matchday squad after injuring a hamstring in the 3-1 defeat by Chelsea last Sunday.
Pochettino, meanwhile, made six changes to the side which beat PSV.
That meant a first Premier League start of the campaign for Victor Wanyama, who settled into defensive midfield alongside Moussa Sissoko.
Spurs started well, but Palace settled and for a good period in the first half looked the more likely to score. Cheikhou Kouyate launched himself at James Mcarthur’s header back across the box, but Lucas Moura averted the danger with an important header. Andros Townsend got round the back of Foyth to latch on to Mamadou Sakho’s ball over the top but, from a tight angle, drilled his effort into the side netting. Foyth appeared to have the jitters again when he tried to pass a ball back to keeper Hugo Lloris. But, instead, he played it straight out for a corner with the keeper in an altogether different postcode. Credit to Foyth, some players would have gone into their shell at that, but there he was just a couple of minutes later, demanding the ball again. Spurs should have gone ahead when Ben Davies got to the byline, but his fine, cross deserved a better header from Dele Alli. Then Harry Kane’s 25-yard strike forced a decent save from Wayne Hennessey. Palace lost James Tomkins to injury and soon found themselves behind. Kane’s header from Erik Lamela’s corner was blocked by Luka Milivojevic and, as the ball sat up, Foyth threw himself at it to power home. What a blow for Palace. They had their chances, though and Lloris saved well from Jeffrey Schlupp and Alexander Sorloth . But when Townsend failed to get hold of another good late chance, Palace knew, once again, that it wasn’t to be their day.