Tottenham brought back down to earth but at least land on their feet with uninspiring win over Crystal Palace

It was not hammering the European champions 3-1 but then it was never going to be. Tottenham Hotspur came back down to earth this afternoon but did at least land on their feet, grinding out a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace of which commemorative DVDs will never be sold.

Spurs were poor for most of this match and Roy Hodgson’s Crystal Palace had much the better chances to win it. Three times early in the second half, before Spurs scored, Palace should have taken the lead.

It was the unlikely figure of Paulo Gazzaniga, Spurs’ third-choice goalkeeper, here on debut, who stood in their way and kept Tottenham in the game.

Their hero, on a day when they needed one, was Heung Min Son. Starting in the absence of Dele Alli, he provided the game’s only moment of any quality, curling in the only goal after 64 minutes. Moussa Sissoko’s shot was half cleared out by Yohan Cabaye to Son on the edge of the box. With his first touch he trapped the ball with his right foot. With his second he bent a shot with his left, beyond the dive of Julian Speroni and into the far corner of the net.

It was the only way Spurs were going to score, something individually brilliant out of the blue. They had not been creating good chances all game, with Harry Kane unusually quiet and Christian Eriksen struggling to find space.

Hodgson’s two banks of four frustrated them and all of a sudden it felt like their first few games here at Wembley, where teams would show up, dig in, and Spurs would struggle to find a way round.

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Once they had the goal though Spurs were safe enough and Son really should have had another, shooting into the side netting with eight minutes left after taking Jan Vertonghen’s pass. But it did not matter, and Spurs took their three points into the international break with them.

The first half was as different from Wednesday night as it possibly could be. All the fire and fun of that evening had dissipated and been replaced by something far more tepid. Tottenham’s attack took on Palace’s defence but there were no real winners. Spurs were over-hitting passes, losing possession, and nothing they were trying came off.

It did not help that they were without many of the heroes of Wednesday. Dele Alli was out with a minor hamstring strain, Kieran Trippier was rested, and Hugo Lloris and Toby Alderweireld were absent too.

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With Michel Vorm feeling a knee injury this morning following training yesterday, Gazzaniga was drafted in in goal. He spent last season at Rayo Vallecano in the Spanish second tier but here he was in the Premier League for the first time since he was Southampton’s stand-in.

Gazzaniga flapped at his first real chance when Palace crossed into the box, flattening Mamadou Sakho and not exactly inspiring confidence in his backline. Palace’s understandable approach was to sit deep, frustrate Spurs and hit them on the break.

And with the pace of Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend they had the tools to do that. They have looked abject at times this season but here, at least, they had a plan. On another day it would have worked.

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At the start of the second half, before Son’s winner, Palace had two glaringly good chances on the break to take the lead, both coming from poor Serge Aurier passes. First Townsend broke down the left, unleashing a left-footed shot that Gazzaniga had to dive down to his left to tip away. Then the next time Aurier gifted Townsend the ball, he released Zaha who rounded Gazzaniga but dragged his shot wide.

When Gazzaniga had to save from Luka Milivojevic’s header from a corner, Spurs felt under more pressure than they had been all afternoon. An unlikely away win was there for Palace to take. But Son was sharper than any of them, and that was all Spurs needed.