The Football Pink

Pierre Sage needed everyone pulling the same way in north London. Thirteen minutes in, his centre-forward was walking off, and by the final whistle Palace were still in the bottom three, beaten 2-0 in front of 60,549 by a Tottenham side who suddenly look like a team again.

Jean-Philippe Mateta chased a ball in behind and slid in on Micky van de Ven just as the defender nicked it away. His studs caught Van de Ven's Achilles, and Jan Paul van Hecke tumbled over the pair of them. Michael Oliver first showed yellow, then went to the monitor and changed it to red. BBC Sport's Phil McNulty called it "reckless stupidity".

A man up, a goal up

Spurs didn't waste the advantage. On 25 minutes Mohammed Kudus swung in a corner, Palace lost Archie Gray at the back post, and he headed it in. Gray, booked on 15 minutes, didn't come out for the second half, with Pedro Porro on in his place.

After that it was nearly all one way: 79 per cent possession, 34 shots to Palace's two, 19 corners to none. The worry was that Spurs had only one goal to show for it. Palace's one chance came on 62 minutes, when Daichi Kamada's cross found Dwight McNeil and Dominic Solanke got back to block his shot.

Game over

Eleven minutes later it was settled. Mateus Fernandes whipped a superb ball in from deep and Van Hecke beat two defenders to it. Dean Henderson pushed the header on to the bar, and Van Hecke, sitting on the grass, nodded the rebound over the line.

Henderson kept the score respectable, saving from Conor Gallagher and then from Dejan Kulusevski in stoppage time. Kudus had a third ruled out for offside and then, after 18-year-old Luca Williams-Barnett, on his league debut, had danced through and squared it, put a two-yard chance wide.

"It's not enough, but we are improving a lot"

De Zerbi was pleased, but he wanted more goals from all that pressure.

Maybe we could score more goals with more nastiness, but I am very happy because we created many chances. We need more goals for sure. It's not enough, but we are improving a lot.

Roberto De Zerbi, Tottenham head coach, to Sky Sports

He explained Gray's early exit, too. "With the first yellow card I had to make the substitution," he said. And he hasn't forgotten where Spurs have been.

We have to look behind what was the situation two weeks ago. In the last two years, two times 17th in the table, many games without a win in front of our fans. We have to stay focused.

Roberto De Zerbi

Van Hecke admitted he needed the rebound.

When I had it first I thought it was a great save, then it came back to my head and I got it in, I am really happy. I was lucky the ball came back.

Jan Paul van Hecke, Tottenham defender, to Sky Sports

At the beginning of the season we played well but didn't win games, that's football. We needed to stay calm and we did. Now we need to stay calm and keep going and win a lot of games because we want to be back at the top again.

Jan Paul van Hecke

Palace's plan after the red card was simple, and it lasted until the 25th minute.

The main message was don't concede again, stay tight as a defence and try to hit them on the counter. That is the best plan when you're down a man.

Tyrick Mitchell, Crystal Palace defender, to Sky Sports

For De Zerbi, it's a third straight league win and a place in the top half, with Leeds away next. For Sage, it's two league wins in nine, and the questions won't go away.

"You can trust in me"

Sage didn't argue with the red card, and the Palace fans sang his name in the second half. Sympathy won't buy him much more time.

The red card was normal, nothing to say about that. We had the ball at this moment, we missed the pass and JP [Mateta] tackled an opponent who he didn't see. That was a normal red card.

Pierre Sage, Crystal Palace head coach, to Sky Sports

I am not looking for excuses. I always take my responsibility in this situation. If we lost in this way, it's because we didn't attack enough to be present and to exist in this game.

Pierre Sage

You can trust in me, I will never give up. We need to work hard now. Our situation is bad and we have to take things in our hand. I will be the first on the pitch on Monday to push the players to win against Hoffenheim and Liverpool because we need points.

Pierre Sage