Palace Round-Up, Saturday 31st October: 10-Man Palace Sink to Third Straight Defeat as Sage Faces Growing Sack Pressure
It was a miserable afternoon in north London as Crystal Palace went down 2-0 at Tottenham Hotspur, with the game effectively settled inside the opening quarter of an hour (Sky Sports) (Sky Sports). Jean-Philippe Mateta was given his marching orders inside the first 13 minutes for a horror challenge that took out two Spurs players, leaving Palace to play the vast majority of the match a man light (The Sun) (Evening Standard) (Sky Sports) (The Eagles Beak). Archie Gray headed Spurs in front before Paul Van Hecke added a second with another header, with Dean Henderson doing well to deny Dominic Solanke in between and Mohammed Kudus having a late chance to extend the lead further (Sky Sports) (Sky Sports) (Sky Sports) (Sky Sports). News Shopper and Sky Sports both confirmed the final outcome left Palace slipping into the relegation zone after a 2-0 reverse (News Shopper) (Sky Sports).
Ahead of kick-off, Palace boss had made two changes from the last league outing as the Eagles travelled to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, according to the club's official team news (CPFC.co.uk). Spurs themselves showed one change from their recent side, with James Maddison among those named among the substitutes (Football.London).
The defeat means Palace have now lost three league games in a row, and the mood afterwards was understandably tense. Pierre Sage fronted up to the media and insisted "I will never give up", promising to be first out on the training pitch again on Monday despite the latest setback (News Shopper) (ESPN). The BBC carried Sage's post-match reaction as he addressed the run of results following the loss at Spurs (BBC Sport). The Evening Standard reported that pressure is mounting on Sage with talk of the sack now swirling around Selhurst Park, and suggested the manager himself made something of an admission on the subject when discussing his position (Evening Standard) (Evening Standard). Football365 also weighed in, pointing out that the chaos caused by Mateta's dismissal has hardly helped Sage's cause as the club sit in deep trouble (Football365).
On the red card itself, Mateta's early dismissal looks set to be a major talking point, with GiveMeSport suggesting it could prove to be a costly and damaging moment for the striker at a crucial time, while the Eagles Beak described a tough afternoon for the travelling support after such an early setback (GiveMeSport) (The Eagles Beak).
Away from the pitch, TeamTalk reports that Nottingham Forest are ready to join Manchester United in the race for Mateta, with suggestions the Frenchman could be increasingly likely to leave Selhurst Park when the January window opens - though this remains firmly in the realm of transfer speculation for now (TeamTalk).
Finally, on a lighter note, News Shopper took a look at the old local legend of a ghost train said to be buried beneath Crystal Palace Park, revisiting the long-standing mystery of a lost Victorian railway tunnel said to lie under the area (News Shopper).
This round-up is written with the help of AI, using only the day's headlines from the publishers credited above. Each point links to the original report — tap the source name to read it in full.
