Europa League finalists Tottenham were forced back into reality after suffering a heavy 2-0 Premier League defeat to Crystal Palace thanks to a brace from Eberechi Eze.
Spurs reached the European final on Thursday with a 5-1 win over Bodo/Glimt against Manchester United, but a much-revamped side under Anze Postecoglou suffered their 20th defeat of the league season.
This was Tottenham's highest number of defeats in Premier League history since the club twice finished seasons with 19 defeats in 1993–94 and 2003–04.
Perhaps more worrying for Postecoglou than another league defeat was the first-half injury to Dejan Kulusevski, although captain Son Heung-min did feature for the first time in a month after a leg injury.
It was a different story for Palace, who secured three points ahead of the FA Cup final on Saturday when Eze scored the decisive goal late in the first half and added another three minutes after the break to complete his brace against Tottenham.
Both teams are preparing for the final and although Postecoglou made eight changes from the victory in Bodo, Palace fielded perhaps their strongest line-up and opened the scoring in the eighth minute.
Daniel Munoz had a chance to score on the Spurs left and picked out Ismaila Sarr to fire into the far corner, but a VAR check found Jean-Philippe Mateta marginally offside at the halfway line.
The first injury occurred in the 13th minute when Kulusevski went down after his shot rebounded off the goal. Six minutes later he was replaced by Marc Guehi after another knock to the knee.
Palace came close again when Tottenham's reserve goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky saved a Munoz header, leaving Matis Telu requiring medical attention but able to continue.
Oliver Glasner watched as his team created chances: Kinski saved Mateta's shot and then Munoz fired home
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
