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September 21, 2015

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Son shines as Spurs rattle Palace

SON Heung-min scored the only goal on his home Premier League debut as Tottenham Hotspur beat Crystal Palace 1-0 yesterday and moved into the top half of the table after a well-deserved victory in an end-to-end London derby.

Son, who scored twice when Spurs beat FK Qarabag 3-1 in the Europa League on Thursday, scored again after Spurs broke up a Palace attack in the 68th minute.

Erik Lamela released substitute Christian Eriksen, and the Dane, who had only been on for three minutes after a month out injured, played the ball into space for the South Korean international who honed in on goal before powering a shot that went through goalkeeper Alex McCarthy’s legs and into the net.

Spurs dominated possession for most of an entertaining first half without breaking down the Palace defense or seriously troubling McCarthy.

But Palace, despite being continually penned back twice came close to scoring before the break.

Hugo Lloris’s acrobatic dive kept out a thunderous Bakary Sako free kick after 38 minutes and Yohan Cabaye smashed an angled shot against the far post just before halftime.

The result lifted Spurs up to ninth with nine points from six matches, with Palace eighth on the same total.

The day’s later matches see Southampton playing Manchester United and Liverpool taking on Norwich City.

On Saturday, for a day at least, everything went Chelsea’s way again in the Premier League.

After an unconvincing start to its title defense, Chelsea was given a double boost by beating London rival Arsenal 2-0 in a contentious game and then seeing leader Manchester City’s perfect start end with a 1-2 home loss to West Ham United.

The Hammers have now defeated Arsenal, Liverpool and Manuel Pellegrini’s City in their first three away games this season.

Chelsea’s day might have turned out less positively had Diego Costa not stayed on the field after swiping at Laurent Koscielny’s face and then chesting the defender to the ground. Instead, it was Arsenal defender Gabriel Paulista who was sent off when he retaliated by kicking out at Costa after the two scuffled just before halftime — leaving Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger furious.

“He will do the same next week and the week after and he always gets away with it,” the Frenchman said about the Spanish striker. “It’s always provocation and he uses well the naivety of (referee) Mike Dean.”

The verdict from Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho on Costa was more succinct: “Fantastic, Diego. ... Man of the match.”

Chelsea’s opener came eight minutes after the break through Kurt Zouma’s header, and any hope of an Arsenal comeback appeared to be evaporate in the 79th minute when Santi Cazorla was dismissed for a late sliding tackle on Cesc Fabregas.

Eden Hazard completed only the second victory of Chelsea’s six-game old title defense in stoppage time with a deflected shot.

Mourinho maintained his unbeaten record against Wenger in a 14th competitive game and Chelsea finally started climbing up the fledgling Premier League.

The surprise sight near the top is West Ham in second place after stunning City, the 2012 and 2014 champion. City has 15 points with West Ham and fellow surprise package Leicester on 12. Leicester rallied from 0-2 down to draw 2-2 at Stoke City.

Victor Moses put West Ham ahead after just six minutes with a low shot from distance, the first league goal City had conceded all season. Diafra Sakho doubled the lead in the 31st after a goalmouth scramble from a corner.

New signing Kevin De Bruyne pulled a goal back for City on the stroke of halftime from 20 yards, but West Ham held on despite sustained pressure from the hosts in the second half.

“I think we played too fast in the second half, too rushed,” Pellegrini said.

“You must be more calm but when you are two goals down, it is difficult. We had a lot of chances to score.”


 

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