Crystal Palace's three game unbeaten run came to an end at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after a dominant performance from Tottenham Hotspur, who are still looking to guarantee safety in the Premier League after the loss to their London rivals.

Here are some of the key points from the game:

Tottenham Hotspur's quick passing

Crystal Palace's defence became unstuck on the weekend, after previously notching up two consecutive clean sheets in a row against Fulham and Manchester United.

Tottenham started on the front foot, passing the ball around quickly, which ruined the positional play that manager, Roy Hodgson, has implemented for the last couple of games.

It left the team having to move quickly in those positions, leaving gaps in between the Palace midfield, which gave Spurs the chance to punish the Eagles. 

It led to Spurs finding gaps and they gambled on Luka Milivojevic's defensive mistake which Lucas Moura pounced on, finding Harry Kane in a forward position, who then played the ball across to Gareth Bale for an easy tap in in the 25th minute.

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Spurs' quick passing really troubled Palace, who were able to find players on the wings in space, which left the away side running back to recover, which they ultimately struggled to do.

Aerial Ability

Both defences struggled in the air, with three of the five goals on show at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium being headers. 

Palace had to result to kicking the ball high with their clearances, with Spurs pressuring them high up the pitch, trying to dispossess their defensive players, which led to their first goal.

Christian Benteke was very good at distributing the ball with these headers and Palace broke well from the Belgian striker knocking the ball down to his teammates.

Their aerial ability paid off in the first half, when Milivojevic made up for his defensive mistake with a laser-guided cross found Benteke on the stroke of halftime - which he headed into the top corner past past Tottenham goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris - with questions being asked from Davinson Sanchez, who played the striker onside and didn't compete to meet the ball, leaving Toby Alderweireld struggling to get back to pressure him.

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Spurs started well in the second half, when Sergio Reguilon's cross found Kane, who was able to head the ball across to Bale, who headed in from close range.

The game saw many opportunities when the attacking team won the headers ahead of the defending side and this must be something Roy Hodgson will want to look at for their next game against West Bromwich Albion, who are really dominant in the air from set pieces.

Wilfried Zaha's back from injury

Crystal Palace introduced their star forward, Wilfried Zaha, back at half-time after he missed five games for his side. It wasn't the dream start that he would have wanted as Spurs scored twice in quick succession in the second half, before he could really impact the game.

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However, the forward did create some big chances for his team and really showed his ability with his quick dribbling and accurate passes, which nearly led to him scoring and creating huge chances for his teammates.

This is really promising for Palace, who still haven't mathematically guaranteed survival in the league yet and the ferocious talisman  will be a big part of them notching up points to guarantee their place in the 2021-22 Premier League season.

The striker nearly grabbed a goal back and showed his attacking ability, when he picked up the ball in the middle of the pitch and ran at the Spurs backline, only for his 20 yard shot to be thwarted by the post.

It will be likely Zaha starts in the next game but Crystal Palace fans will want to see him and Eberechi Eze play together, as the former Queen Park Rangers midfielder came off at half-time in place of Zaha.

How should Crystal Palace approach their game against West Brom?

Sam Allardyce's West Brom come to Selhurst Park on Saturday, hoping they can get a big three points in their quest for survival.

Roy Hodgson will need to focus more aerially as West Brom will put them in some serious pressure from set-pieces.

Semi Ajayi and Kyle Bartley have put other teams under huge pressure, capitalising on their defending and scoring vital goals for the team.

They will also need to focus on scoring from such set-pieces as West Brom will sit back and defend as much as they can against Palace, which could frustrate the team. The Eagles will need to work on set pieces, as the defending could be quite resolute from Allardyce's team.

It should be a relatively routine game for Palace if they can score an early goal, which may be the best way forward approaching this game.

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