Tottenham 1-0 Palace
by Joel Sharples
at White Hart Lane

New Spurs striker Son Heung Min made an instant impact at White Hart Lane yesterday, scoring the winner in their 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace.

Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino revealed that the South Korean forward has been settling in well off the pitch too, bringing some of his favourite Korean dishes in to the training ground to share with his teammates: “I had a big dish. He’s a very friendly boy. Very humble. The performance was fantastic and the energy he showed was amazing, and for that I think the supporters are very happy with him.”

After scoring twice in the Europa League on Thursday, Son added to his tally with a well-taken goal on the break, but Pochettino also highlighted the way in which he has slotted into his high-pressing system.

Son’s combination of hard work and skill has already won over the Spurs crowd and he left the field to a standing ovation soon after his 67th-minute winner.

Some impressive defensive work from Erik Lamela allowed subsitute Christian Eriksen to break at speed. He fed Son down the left, who burst forward before rifling a shot through the legs of Alex McCarthy.

Crystal Palace were unlucky not to have been in the lead by that point, having hit the woodwork twice. First Yohan Cabaye and then Bakary Sako fired powerful right foot drives at goal, with Hugo Lloris making a spectacular save from the latter to tip the ball onto the post after 64 minutes.

Alan Pardew rued the marginal difference between the sides that cost Palace the points: “Slight differences in situations where we should have done slightly better cost us a goal that we conceded. They are the margins that you win and lose by in this division and we’ve got to make sure those margins come in our favour.”

After Spurs’s performance today he might well consider putting kimchi on the menu at the Palace training ground.