Tottenham Hotspur 0-0 Crystal Palace
- Published
Puncheon hits bar for impressive Palace
First clean sheet in nine for visitors
Dominant Palace force 12 corners to Spurs' two
Crystal Palace can count themselves unlucky not to take three points from their trip to Tottenham as the hosts held on for a draw at White Hart Lane.
Jason Puncheon hit the bar with the pick of numerous Palace chances.
Wide men Yannick Bolasie and Wilfried Zaha were also impressive but the breakthrough proved elusive.
Roberto Soldado spurned the best of Tottenham's chances but the hosts have now failed to win in five of their eight league matches at home this term.
Both sides suffered defeats in midweek, Spurs dismantled by Chelsea and Palace going down at home to Aston Villa.
With both eager to recover it was the hosts who fired the first warning shot as Ryan Mason's searching ball picked out Christian Eriksen, who cut inside Martin Kelly and dragged an effort wide of the near post.
Palace, seeking a first win at White Hart Lane since 1997, lined up with five in midfield behind lone striker Marouane Chamakh.
But with the direct Bolasie and Zaha running the channels with pace and invention, Neil Warnock's side were a constant threat.
The visitors were on the front foot for much of the first half and a sequence of corner kicks almost culminated with Mason heading into his own net, while Bolasie's wonderful trickery to escape two markers when penned in the corner almost ended with the opener from Joe Ledley, who blazed over.
Soldado, who scored the winner against Everton last weekend only to find himself on the bench against Chelsea, also cleared the bar with a presentable chance.
Zaha was denied only by Jan Vertonghen's last-ditch challenge and Scott Dann forced a good save from Hugo Lloris as Palace continued to press.
Gradually Spurs came into the contest, however, and twice saw Soldado go close before the interval.
Harry Kane, coveted by Palace boss Neil Warnock during the summer, was having a quiet game with all the chances instead failing to Soldado, who again fired off target in the 63rd minute.
Palace remained the side most likely to get the win though, and 11 minutes from the end their best chance came and went as the ball broke to substitute Puncheon after a corner but his fierce shot rattled the crossbar.
Bolasie brought a good save from Lloris and Ledley fired over in what time remained as ragged Spurs held on.
Palace manager Neil Warnock: "I'm lost for words. I can't understand how we've not won. The way we played, we deserved the points. The lads played some good stuff and it took a great goalkeeping performance to stop us getting the three points.
"We played some good stuff, created havoc at times and always looked a threat. I don't know how many times I put my head in my hands today as I thought we'd scored that many. Wilfried and Bolaise were brilliant, but my man of the man was Chamakh - he covered every blade of grass."
Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino: "It wasn't an easy game, Palace played well. We are not very fresh because it was the third game in six days and it's difficult to manage.
"Maybe this game is one where we need to get the three points, but in the end I think the result was fair. We have a lack of freshness but we tried, we tried to win the game."
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