Play like this at Wembley and Crystal Palace will have every chance of upsetting the odds when they face Manchester City in the FA Cup final on Saturday. Oliver Glasner has built a clever, flexible and wonderfully mobile team since taking over from Roy Hodgson last year and it helps that an efficient collective is backed up by the dreamy individual quality of Eberechi Eze, whose double in this straightforward win over Tottenham Hotspur’s second string ensured that Palace have vital momentum before taking on City.
Before anyone gets carried away, though, it is worth pointing out that Spurs were abysmal. Nobody played themselves into Ange Postecogolou’s plans for the Europa League final against Manchester United later this month. There was also concern about Dejan Kulusevski departing with an early injury and although the Spurs fans sang about going to Bilbao there was no disguising their displeasure after their side’s 20th defeat of a dreadfulPremier Leaguecampaign left them in 17th place with two games left.
This is why there were so many empty seats in the home sections. Those who reasoned that there are better ways to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon than by watching Ange Postecoglou’s B team go through the motions appeared to have made a wise choice during a first half dominated by the visitors to a comical degree. Spurs were lethargic and disengaged after making eight changes to the team thatbeat Bodø/Glimtlast Thursday. They barely constructed a single memorable move before half-time and, given that the primary goal had to be avoiding injuries, it summed up Postecoglou’s luck when one of the few players who can expect to start against United limped off after 19 minutes.
If the plan was to build Kulusveski up after his return from a foot injury then it backfired when he came off worse in a 50-50 challenge during the early stages. The Swede seemed to hurt a knee and was soon trudging down the tunnel. Spurs will hope that Kulusevski was simply being cautious. They cannot afford to be without the midfielder’s creativity after already losing James Maddison and Lucas Bergvall for the rest of the season.
Palace were already on top before Kulusevski went off, though. There was no rotation from Glasner, who wanted his team to be sharp when they meet City. Palace were intense, imaginative and vibrant. Daniel Muñoz was as positive as ever at right wing-back, Will Hughes and Jefferson Lerma ruled midfield and Jean-Phillippe Mateta caused problems with his smart movement and link-up play up front.
Spurs lived on the edge from the start. Palace kept looking to exploit the space behind Djed Spence, who was in daydreaming mode at left-back. They repeatedly released Muñoz with clever reverse passes and thought they were in front when the Colombian crossed for Ismaïla Sarr to score after three minutes, only for the goal to be ruled out for a minuscule offside against Mateta in the buildup.
On it went. Antonin Kinsky saved from Mateta and almost spilled a volley from Muñoz. Sarr went through but failed to get his shot past Ben Davies. Mateta had a chance deflected wide by Kevin Danso. Muñoz clattered an effort against the bar. Palace had another goal ruled out when Maxence Lacroix’s goalbound header went in off Marc Guéhi’s arm.
Spurs played with an air of resignation. They were waiting to concede and duly did so when Mateta dropped deep to sweep another pass down the right channel in the 45th minute, again exposing Spence’s lack of positional awareness. Left alone, Muñoz charged through, held off Rodrigo Bentancur and squared for Eze to tap into an empty net.
Sign up toFootball Daily
Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football
after newsletter promotion
The half-time boos were deserved. The punishment continued, though. Postecoglou brought Yves Bissouma on for Bentancur but Spurs remained farcical at the back. Playing through them required little ingenuity, although it must be said that Palace’s second goal was a counterattacking beauty. It began with Eze using the outside of his right foot to send Sarr sprinting past Spence. Sarr waited for support and when his first cross was blocked he made the most of a second chance to deliver by rolling the ball to Eze, ghosting into the and free to clip a composed finish past Kinsky.
Palace looked for a third, Mateta testing Kinsky and Sarr heading over. Spurs stirred and Pape Matar Sarr missed an easy header. In the end, though, the most encouraging moment for Postecoglou was Son Heung-min making a late cameo after returning from injury. Spurs will need their captain against United.