Tottenham secured their place in next season’s Europa League with a hard-fought draw at Crystal Palace.
The result sees Jose Mourinho’s side leapfrog into sixth place above Wolves, who lost at Chelsea.
Harry Kane opened the scoring for Spurs, dispatching a low finish into the bottom left corner after collecting Giovani lo Celso’s pass.
However, Jeffrey Schlupp levelled for Palace with a close-range finish after some poor Tottenham marking at a corner.
It was no more than Roy Hodgson’s side deserved, as they ended a run of seven straight defeats.
They matched their London rivals for endeavour and could have snatched all three points, with Scott Dann heading a late effort wide.
While this was a welcome point and performance from Palace, it also perfectly characterized their entire campaign.
The Eagles may well have steered clear of the relegation battle but they ended the season with their lowest points tally since Hodgson took charge in September 2017.
That has largely been due to a lack of goals, with Palace having the second-worst scoring record in the top flight, after bottom club Norwich.
It has not helped that the contributions of both Wilfried Zaha and Serbia midfielder Luka Milivojevic have dropped off significantly this term.
Both reached double figures in 2018-19 but have mustered just seven goals between them this time around.
To underscore the point, Palace registered 13 efforts against Spurs, but just two were on target.
Dann and Jordan Ayew, should both have at least worked Hugo Lloris from close range on the left side of the Tottenham penalty area.
And Hodgson, who has repeatedly stressed his desire to bolster his squad, now has around seven weeks to rectify the issue before the 2020-21 Premier League gets under way on 12 September.
The post Tottenham qualifies for Europa League after drawing Crystal Palace appeared first on Within Nigeria.
https://ift.tt/3f1Fg5q
Post a Comment