The football on display in the opening periods did little to light up a grey and dreary day in north London, as the rain poured down on a tense and scrappy affair. Palace looked confident on the ball and applied pressure on the break, but penetration was lacking.
At the other end, Spurs hit the crossbar through Cristian Romero; it was their only clear sight of goal as the home crowd grew more and more frustrated.
In Harry Kane, however, there is always a source of danger. Spurs’ opener was a wonderful move, Kane first clipping an inch-perfect ball over his shoulder to find Porro, before racing to the far-post to nod home.
Palace were unfortunate to trail at the break, and came out in the second-half with the same determination – Wilfried Zaha in particular was causing real issues for the Spurs defence, rounding three markers and picking out Ebere Eze who drove wide.
Sam Johnstone made a fantastic save to keep the deficit at one when Son Heung-Min raced through, but it was far from a busy afternoon for the Palace man – much of the action was taking place in midfield. It ensured a fiery atmosphere and it looked as if tempers would spill over at times.
Palace pushed hard for the equaliser deep into stoppage time but to no avail, and the three points remained in north London.
Tottenham: Forster (GK), Skipp, Højbjerg, Son (Danjuma¸89), Richarlison (Kulusevski, 79), Kane, Emerson, Romero, Porro, Davies, Lenglet (Dier, 88).
Subs: Austin (GK), Sanchez, Perisic, Lucas, Sarr, Bissouma.
Palace: Johnstone (GK), Ward, Guéhi, Andersen, Mitchell, Doucouré, Schlupp (Hughes, 74), Eze, Zaha, Ayew (Edouard¸84), Olise.
Subs: Guaita (GK), Clyne, Richards, Milivojevic, Lokonga, Riedewald, Mateta.