In a weekend of major cup upsets in south London Crystal Palace got in on the act as they saw off Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 to compound an awful week for the north Londoners.
Connor Wickham’s first strike in over two years and an Andros Townsend penalty put the hosts in command at the break as Keiron Trippier’s missed penalty summed up Tottenham’s week.
Julian Speroni, in possibly his last game for the club, was in majestic form at Selhurst Park as a string of fine saves kept the clean sheet the returning Scott Dann would’ve dreamed of.
Dream Start for Wickham
It was somewhat against the run of play when Palace took the lead on nine minutes.
Some neat work from Joel Ward down the right set Jeffrey Schlupp free who saw his effort parried kindly by Paulo Gazzaniga in to the on-rushing Wickham.
The celebration from the striker told you everything you need to know about the injury hell the 25-year-old has endured. That was his first goal since November 2016.
The visitors were whiskers away from striking back instantly through Lucas Moura but the Brazilian saw his fine effort fly agonisingly over from 20-yards out.
As Spurs grew in to the game they found themselves two behind on 34 minutes thanks to some kamikaze defending from Kyle Walker-Peters.
Losing flight of Wilfried Zaha’s cross, the make-shift left wing-back raised an arm towards the ball leaving referee Kevin Friend no option but to point to the spot. One of the easiest penalty decisions Friend will make.
Former Spurs’ boy Townsend made no mistake from the spot despite his muted celebrations indicating otherwise.
Minutes later Palace should’ve been out of sight.
Van Aanholt cut the ball back for Townsend whose effort from ten yards was easily palmed away by Gazzaniga. The winger should’ve done better with the whole goal to aim at.
As the half drew to a close Spurs should’ve clawed one back through Georges-Kevin N’koudou.
A clever free kick gave N’koudou two bites at the cherry but Julian Speroni brilliantly denied the Frenchman on both occasions.
Trippier then gave another sign it wasn’t to be Pochettino’s day as he saw his penalty skew horribly wide much to the delight of the Holmesdale End.
Spurs introduced Erik Lamela at the break and they came out firing.
Fernando Llorente saw his effort saved by the marvellous Speroni from close range, but there were signs Spurs were starting to mount a challenge.
For all of Tottenham’s possession they couldn’t break the deadlock as Martin Kelly and Dann, who wore the armband, seemed to have the better of Llorente in all areas.
As the second half ticked by Spurs couldn’t find the key to unlock the Palace defence and because of that Roy Hodgson's men march in to the fifth round.
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