Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday ground out a much-needed three points for the under-fire head coach Thomas Frank with a 1-0 win at Crystal Palace, while high-flying Sunderland were held 1-1 by Leeds United.
Archie Gray was Spurs’ unlikely match winner at Selhurst Park with his first senior goal as Frank’s men won for just the second time in nine league games.
Richarlison had two goals disallowed for offside, but Gray’s header was enough for Spurs against a Palace side running out of steam after a grueling schedule.
Photo: AFP
“In the end we got over the line,” Frank said. “The team showed great resilience today and I think the desire beat the details in the game.”
The Eagles are winless in five games as they have hit the wall from trying to stretch their limited resources across three competitions.
Oliver Glasner described his side’s set-piece defending in a 4-1 defeat to Leeds the previous weekend as “embarrassing” and it was a dead ball that cost them once more against a Spurs team badly lacking in creativity.
An overdue victory will temporarily ease the scrutiny on Frank, but another performance devoid of flair going forward will do little to quieten his doubters in the Tottenham support.
The visitors did not have a shot on target from open play before halftime, but were only denied by a video assistant referee review for offside when Richarlison thought he had opened the scoring.
Instead the source of the only goal was an unexpected one as Gray headed in Richarlison’s flick from a corner for his first goal in 112 appearances for Tottenham and Leeds.
Palace dominated territory and possession after halftime, but lacked the class needed in front of goal to make Spurs pay.
Justin Devenny blazed high over the bar from close range, before Maxence Lacroix headed wide.
Palace were handed another reprieve when Richarlison turned in Mohammed Kudus’ cross only for the video assistant referee to intervene again, but Tottenham held out to climb to 11th, just one point behind Palace in ninth.
Earlier, Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored for a sixth consecutive Premier League game as Leeds denied Sunderland a place in the top five with a draw at the Stadium of Light.
Simon Adingra fired the Black Cats into a halftime lead, but the in-form Calvert-Lewin leveled early in the second period to pull Leeds further clear of the relegation zone.
Sunderland are still yet to lose at home on their return to the top flight, but have been severely depleted by the departure of six players to the Africa Cup of Nations.
Adingra was one of the Ivory Coast’s key men in winning the Cup of Nations on home soil last year, but he was not selected this time.
Sunderland were grateful for that decision as the former Brighton & Hove Albion winger curled in his first goal for the club from Granit Xhaka’s fine through-ball on 28 minutes.
Leeds had been the better side for large spells of the first half and started the second with a bang.
Calvert-Lewin latched onto Brenden Aaronson’s low cross for his eighth goal of the season, seven of which have come in the past six games.
The former Everton striker’s form has played a major role in edging Leeds toward safety and keeping his head coach Daniel Farke in a job.
The German was reportedly on the brink of being dismissed prior to a five-game unbeaten run that has taken Leeds seven points clear of the bottom three.
“I’m not dancing on the table tonight,” Farke said. “The feeling was if we were a bit more clinical we should have won the game.”
Sunderland missed the chance to leapfrog Manchester United and Chelsea, but sit seventh, just four points outside the top four.
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