Tottenham secure Europa League qualification with draw at Crystal Palace
It was time for one of those special José moments, where the glowering disappears for just a second and he pays himself a compliment: “Arriving 14th and finishing sixth is not bad at all,” he said. “I’m quite happy to be in the Europa League.”
Tottenham Hotspur took a point from Crystal Palace and secured European football for next season by the narrowest of margins, edging out Wolves on goal difference. It may not quite be finishing second with the 20-times champions, but in terms of achieving success without actually winning something, this was a moment worth noting for Mourinho.
Where Spurs might have ended up were it not for Harry Kane’s late burst of form is a moot point. The Tottenham talisman has scored seven goals since the restart and his first-half opener against Palace was a regulation finish for him. Roy Hodgson described it well: “He shot before anyone realised a shot was possible.”
The goal came in the 13th minute, the only real chance of the first half and only “real” because Kane was on the end of it. Giovani Lo Celso made the chance, 25 yards out and looking wide right, he slipped a blind perpendicular pass in behind the Palace defence.
Kane bent his run to meet the ball only to see it bobble up in ungainly fashion off his shin. It ran away from him but there was never any doubt Kane would get his shot off and he did so with alacrity. Adjusting his body, he hit a low shot inside Vicente Guaita’s righthand post before the Spaniard could get close to it.
Given that both teams are more at ease on the counterattack, this opening goal doubly suited Mourinho. Hodgson’s men, meanwhile, had to double down on their concentration, maintain a tempo and show some bravery. Fortunately
for this purpose Palace have Ray Lewington on hand, the assistant manager by far the loudest voice in the ground, peppering his team with simple instructions; an alert system operating only on the most urgent setting.
Palace kept their heads up and played their full part in an engrossing opening 45 minutes. It was physical and unrelenting, the duel down their left between Wilfried Zaha and Serge Aurier was a particular delight, the fullback giving as good as he got.
Eight minutes after the restart Palace got a deserved reward. It began with Aurier on the back foot again, conceding another corner, and Palace sent it to the back post. Scott Dann won his header, bouncing it down into the box where a melee ensued. Jordan Ayew scuffed the first effort but Jeffrey Schlupp was alert to the deflection and slammed the ball into the roof of Hugo Lloris’s net.
The game then returned to a tussle with few opportunities, Dann having the only other clear chance. He might have sealed the win in stoppage time only for another far-post effort to bounce wide.
“I must say I thought it was a very positive performance against a real quality side‚” Hodgson said after Palace earned their first point in eight matches. “We shaded the match but the important thing was to break the very unfortunate run of results we’ve had. To finish the season on a positive note, is very satisfactory.”
For Mourinho the attention moved immediately on to the start of next term, just over a month away. “What we can do is improve,” the Spurs manager said. “We showed in this last