The laugh from Eberechi Eze said it all. Tottenham Hotspur might be Europa League finalists, but they are a Premier League joke. And Eze could not contain his giggle after scoring the first of his two goals in this one-sided London derby, so easy was it for him and his Crystal Palace team-mates.
This really was an embarrassing afternoon for Spurs in a season that has been full of them.
Yes, Ange Postecoglou was playing his reserves with both eyes on the final in Bilbao in 10 days’ time, when they could claim their first European trophy in 41 years. But this defeat meant they have now made history domestically – losing 20 matches in a Premier League season for the first time.
In the wake of their Europa semi-final win over Bodo/Glimt on Thursday, Postecoglou had arrogantly asked: ‘Who cares if we’re struggling in the league?’ Well, perhaps try Daniel Levy.
The Spurs chairman sat stony-faced in the directors’ box on Sunday – and there is no way he will accept his club sitting just one place out of the relegation places, regardless of whether this season ends with silverware or not.
The 60,254 fans who turned up at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium also probably care about Palace inflicting a league double on their side for the first time.
Crystal Palace beat Tottenham 2-0 to hand Spurs a 20th Premier League defeat this season
Spurs plummeted to 17th in the table and are on track for their worst Premier League finish ever
Eberechi Eze scored for a fourth straight game as he netted a brace for Palace on Sunday
Those supporters will be more forgiving of days like this if they are toasting a trophy in Spain on Wednesday week. But should they lose to Manchester United, the other Premier League laughing stock, then there will be no hiding from their horrors in the top flight this term.
Postecoglou spoke afterwards of his players not being able to cope ‘psychologically’ with having a final in front of them. It was a damning indictment of the mental fragility of his squad. Not least because Palace had just shown them how to prepare for a date with destiny.
In complete contrast to his opposite number, Eagles boss Oliver Glasner picked a full-strength side, resisting the temptation to ring the changes with Saturday’s FA Cup final against Manchester City in mind.
And the Austrian was rewarded with a morale-boosting victory and performance, which has helped Palace equal their record Premier League points tally with two matches still to go.
It was men against boys for the 90 minutes and the scoreline did not reflect the dominance of the visitors, who had 23 shots to their opponent’s eight, and 10 on target to Tottenham’s one.
Spurs’ second string simply could not cope with Palace’s powerhouse front three of Eze, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Ismaila Sarr, or their flying right wing-back Daniel Munoz.
While all of Palace’s stars came through this match unscathed, Spurs were given an injury scare when Dejan Kulusevski – one of only three survivors from Thursday – limped off in the 19th minute after suffering a knock on his following a full-blooded challenge by Marc Guehi.
Postecoglou said his forward ‘should be OK’ for Bilbao, but it was a moment which appeared to haunt his team-mates, who went into retreat for the rest of the match.
Eze’s second goal came just three minutes into the second half to double the Eagles’ lead
Ange Postecoglou’s side face Aston Villa in the league next Friday, but will already have one eye on their Europa League final clash against Manchester United on May 21
Oliver Glasner’s men next take the field against Manchester City in the FA Cup final on May 17
Even before then, though, Palace were on top. They thought they had taken the lead in the ninth minute when Sarr tapped in at the back post after a lovely free-flowing move. However, Spurs were left off the hook when VAR found that Mateta, who was stood in his own half, had crept offside via his shoulder at the start of the move.
Not that the left-off woke the hosts up, as Palace continued to create chance after chance, mainly though Munoz, who Spurs’ struggling left-back Djed Spence appeared not to notice for 90 minutes.
After Munoz crashed against the bar with a fierce drive, Palace had another goal chalked out when Maxence Lacroix’s header from Will Hughes’ corner went in off Guehi’s arm.
But they finally had the lead on the stroke of half-time when Munoz again raced clear down the right from Mateta’s pass, then slipped the ball across to Eze, who stroked home.
To say the visitors deserved their advantage at the break was the understatement of the season – and they doubled it three minutes into the second half via the same source.
Eze started the move with a precision pass to Sarr, who held the ball up and then played it back to the England forward to power in for his fifth goal in four games.
It could have been worse for Spurs, with Antonin Kinsky keeping out a shot from Mateta, a misdirected header from his own team-mate Kevin Danso and a one-on-one effort from substitute Eddie Nketiah.
And Palace fans were loving every minute, singing about going to Wembley, while Spurs fans trudged off home early, praying they will not feel this sort of pain in Spain.
