Crystal Palace vs. Tottenham Hotspur: Winners and Losers from London Derby
Crystal Palace came from behind to beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 in Alan Pardew's managerial debut for the Eagles on Saturday.
Harry Kane's goal shortly after the restart broke the deadlock, but in the 69th minute, Dwight Gayle equalised from the spot after Joe Ledley won a penalty off Benjamin Stambouli.
From there, Palace went for all three points, and in the 80th minute, Jason Puncheon found the back of the net after some good work by substitute attacker Wilfried Zaha.
Overall, there were a handful of standout performances at Selhurst Park, as well as one or two that were rather less impressive.
Following are the individual winners and losers from the encounter.
Winner: Adlene Guedioura, Whose Introduction Spurred Palace On
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Adlene Guedioura began Saturday's match on the Crystal Palace bench, but after a first half in which the hosts struggled to muster anything offensively, Pardew introduced him into the encounter.
It proved a masterstroke, as the 29-year-old immediately began driving the hosts forward.
"Great impact from Adlene Guedioura in this Crystal Palace v Tottenham Hotspur game," tweeted the BBC's John Bennett, who added the attacker was a "very underrated player."
Loser: Christian Eriksen, Who Missed an Absolute Sitter
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Christian Eriksen should have opened the scoring for Tottenham Hotspur in the 22nd minute when he found himself in shooting position with the corner of the net gaping.
Instead, the Denmark international flashed his shot wide of the right post in what proved to be one of only two chances he had at Selhurst Park.
Then, in the 80th minute, his giveaway to Martin Kelly began the bit of buildup that resulted in the Palace winner.
It wasn't exactly the best day at the office for the 22-year-old.
Winner: Wilfried Zaha, Who Made an Impact from the Bench
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Pardew made some key substitutions on Saturday, one of which involved the introduction of Zaha in place of Glenn Murray.
It took Zaha just six minutes to make an impact—his deep run leaving Spurs right-back Kyle Walker in his dust before delivering a ball across the face of goal that set Puncheon up to score.
"When Zaha's in the mood, he's some player," analysed the Telegraph's Henry Winter. "With consistency and dedication he could turn that talent and pace into something special."
Winner: Harry Kane, Who Can't Stop Scoring
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Kane opened the scoring on Saturday with his 18th goal of the season in all competitions.
After accepting a short pass from Nacer Chadli, he shimmied to get himself into shooting position before driving the ball through Damien Delaney's legs and into the back of the net.
As Squawka tweeted after the goal, Spurs had yet to lose when Kane scored a goal this season.
Of course, that all changed when Puncheon scored the match-winner for Crystal Palace.
Loser: The Playing Surface, Which Affected the Flow of the Match
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Crystal Palace replaced their pitch during the Christmas period, but it was hardly in ideal condition for Tottenham Hotspur's visit on Saturday.
"Pitch doesn't look great," tweeted talkSPORT commentator Sam Matterface. "Replaced at Christmas but still a bit of patchwork quilt."
No doubt the surface had something to do with the choppy nature of the match, which saw balls go wayward with frequency.
Winner: Alan Pardew, Who Began His Palace Reign with a Win
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Pardew was given a hero's welcome at Selhurst Park on Saturday, and he responded to the goodwill from the Crystal Palace fans by delivering a rare Premier League victory.
The former Newcastle manager's substitutions were especially key to the 2-1 result, as both Guedioura and Zaha played important parts in the hosts' buildup play following their introductions.
Throughout the match "Alan Pardew's red and blue army" was sung by the home supporters, per the club's Twitter account, and one section of the ground unveiled a banner that read "Our season starts now," per Squawka.
With the victory, Palace moved from 18th to 15th in the table.
