SPURS CLINCH EUROPA SPOT

Palace, whose form and fortune has been so poor, and whose best player — Wilfried Zaha — wants to leave. A defence held together by string was barely tested by Spurs, barring Harry Kane’s 18th league goal of the season. Jeffrey Schlupp equalised in the second half, then Jordan Ayew and Scott Dann had decent chances to win it. Had Wolves drawn at Chelsea, Spurs would have finished seventh and at risk of dropping out of Europe if Arsenal win the FA Cup final. Mourinho said: ‘Of course, players who have played in the Champions League do not want to go back to the Europa League but it was the only thing possible after a difficult season. After arriving 14th, sixth is not bad at all. So I am quite happy. ‘What we can do now is improve. When all the players are available we showed in this last period where we belong — maybe third or fourth. Are we going to buy players for £100million? No. But we are going to improve.’ Palace boss Roy Hodgson said: ‘We’ve had a very bad period in terms of results and injuries but we broke that sequence and that was good.’

CRYSTAL PALACE (4-4-2): Guaita; Ward, Kouyate, Dann, Mitchell; Townsend, McCarthy, McArthur (Riedewald 71), Schlupp (Milivojevic 85); Ayew, Zaha. Subs not used: Meyer, Hennessey, Kelly, Woods, Kirby, Pierrick, Gordon. Booked: McCarthy, Mitchell, Kouyate. TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR (4-2-3-1): Lloris; Aurier, Dier, Alderweireld, Davies; Sissoko (Skipp 80), Winks; Moura (Sanchez 90), Lo Celso (Bergwijn, 60), Son (Alli 80); Kane. Subs not used: Vertonghen, Lamela, Sessegnon, Gazzaniga, Tanganga. Booked: Alderweireld, Dier. Man of the match: Tyrick Mitchell Referee: Andre Marriner.