Mateta red card sinks Crystal Palace as Tottenham win third in a row

Tottenham beat 10-man Crystal Palace 2-0 at home on Friday, with goals from Archie Gray and Jan Paul van Hecke securing a third successive Premier League win for Roberto De Zerbi's side.

The contest turned in the 13th minute when Jean-Philippe Mateta caught Micky van de Ven with a studs-up challenge on the back of the heel as the Tottenham defender played the ball back to his goalkeeper.

Referee Michael Oliver initially produced a yellow card, but VAR intervened and the decision was upgraded to a straight red, leaving Palace to play the majority of the match a man short.

Palace had started brightly before the sending-off, with Daichi Kamada testing Antonin Kinsky, but the numerical disadvantage told from there.

Tottenham broke the deadlock in the 25th minute when Mohammed Kudus delivered a corner to the back post that Gray headed home unmarked, his second goal against Palace and third for the club.

Mathys Tel twice found good crosses that went unconverted, while Omar Marmoush had a powerful effort blocked by Axel Disasi before half-time, with the score 1-0 at the break.

De Zerbi made a half-time change regardless of his side's advantage, sending on Pedro Porro for Gray, and Tottenham doubled their lead with 17 minutes remaining through Van Hecke, a header from the former Brighton centre-back.

The win allowed De Zerbi to give teenager Luca Williams-Barnett his league debut and follows a victory at Chelsea the previous weekend, only Tottenham's second there in 36 years.

According to the Independent, it is the first time Spurs have won three Premier League matches in succession in 20 months, while Yahoo Sports reported the exact gap as 616 days.

James Maddison was fit enough to be named among the substitutes after an injury scare at Chelsea, with Dominic Solanke recalled to lead the attack in his absence from the starting eleven.

For Palace, the defeat was a third in a row in the league and drops Sage's side into the bottom three, according to Yahoo Sports.

It is also the second time this season Palace have finished a match with ten men, after Disasi was sent off in a game against Ipswich last month, Yahoo Sports noted.

Sage had appeared to ease some of the pressure on his position with a midweek Carabao Cup win at Fulham, and Yahoo Sports reported there had been an expectation he could be dismissed had Palace lost at Tottenham.

Cameras picked out Palace chairman Steve Parish looking unimpressed in the stands after Gray's opening goal, Yahoo Sports reported, with Parish alone responsible for deciding Sage's future and Sean Dyche and Thomas Frank said to be waiting for an opportunity.

Palace's next fixture is a home game against Liverpool before the international break, a match Yahoo Sports described as a potential last chance for Sage to save his position.