160-touch Spurs star totally destroyed Crystal Palace on Saturday

Tottenham Hotspur made it three successive victories in the Premier League on Saturday evening when they beat Crystal Palace 2-0 in North London.

The Lilywhites were the last team in the 92 to register a league win in the 2026/27 campaign by the time that they beat Coventry City 3-1 last month.

REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

Now, they have racked up three wins in succession by beating Coventry, Chelsea, and Palace to lift themselves into the top half of the table for the first time this season.

The Eagles came into the game in 18th place in the top-flight, having won two of their seven matches, but Roberto De Zerbi‘s side still had to go out and score the goals to claim all three points.

How Tottenham’s win over Palace unfolded

There is no hiding away from the fact that the game completely changed in the 13th minute when Jean-Philippe Mateta was sent off for a studs-up challenge on Micky van de Ven, after a VAR review.

REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

Tottenham still had to take advantage of Palace losing their talisman, though, and that is exactly what they did with their dominance of the ball in possession.

The Lilywhites ended the match with 79% possession, 34 shots on goal, five ‘big chances’ created, and 3.26 xG, whilst the Eagles only had two shots and did not have a single ‘big chance’.

Archie Gray opened the scoring with a header in the 25th minute, after evading everyone at the back post from a corner, before Jan Paul van Hecke sealed the win in the second half.

Tottenham’s standout players against Crystal Palace

As you would expect after such a dominant victory, there were several Spurs players who stood out with exceptional performances in North London on Saturday evening.

Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali, for example, both completed at least 89% of their attempted passes and won 12 of their 16 combined duels on the ground and in the air throughout the game.

Another pairing, Mohammed Kudus and Mathys Tel, also caught the eye for Spurs as the two wingers combined to create seven chances and one ‘big chance’ for their teammates on the night.

Action Images via Reuters/John Sibley

As good as those four players were throughout the win over Palace, it was van Hecke who was the true standout as he totally dominated the opposition on and off the ball.

How Van Hecke stole the show for Spurs against Palace

The £52m signing from Brighton & Hove Albion was the star of the show for De Zerbi’s side with his dominant defending and his impressive use of the ball to control the game.

Tottenham had to make sure that they used the ball effectively to break Palace down because it can sometimes be difficult to play against ten-men, as teams sometimes retreat into their shell and make it difficult to break them down.

Van Hecke’s use of the ball is one of the reasons why Spurs did not struggle to break them down and create chances, as he completed 95% of his 151 attempted passes (143), created three chances for his teammates, and had 160 touches of the ball.

Instead of rushing passes and gifting Palace possession back, the Netherlands international was surgical with his passes and constantly made the right decisions, only losing the ball nine times from 160 touches.

The Dutchman, of course, also had an important touch of the ball when he followed up on his own header to bundle the ball past Dean Henderson to make it 2-0 and secure all three points.

Van Hecke was not just dominant in possession, though, as the central defender also won 100% (4/4) of his duels to prevent Palace from countering and causing Antonin Kinsky any issues.

He walked off the pitch without committing a single foul or being dribbled past a single time in the 90 minutes, recovering the ball four times, as he dominated the Eagles defensively and offensively.

Action Images via Reuters/John Sibley

The 26-year-old colossus has been a superb signing by the Lilywhites since his move from Brighton and De Zerbi will be hoping for more dominant performances, like this one, throughout the rest of the campaign and beyond.