Pochettino praises Gazzaniga as fantastic player
Following his team's 1-0 win at Wembley on Matchday 11, Tottenham manager Maurico Pochettino said third choice goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga played "fantastically well" on his debut, ending the match with a clean sheet as Spurs strove to victory over Premier league bottom-placed Crystal Palace. Several experts in their Premier League predictions had seen nothing other than a Tottenham Hotspur win in this game.
The North London club players seemed to be stressed out after their Champions League victory over La Liga giants Real Madrid during the week, but Heung-min Son, who looked super-charged for the match, secured all three points for Spurs at the weekend with a fine goal, although he also missed two more golden opportunities. While Palace will be staying put at the bottom of the table, they did pull up a great performance in the match, creating several chances except they failed to convert any to a goal at Wembley.
Following the injury of first choice goalkeeper Hugo LLoris, and at late notice, second choice Michel Vorm, Gazzaniga was forced to step up to the plate. The obligatory change worked out for Pochettino after a series of fine saves in the match and on the one occasion the third choice keeper was beaten by Wilfried Zaha, the Palace player pulled his shot wide of the far post.
Pochettino said in post-match conference: “I am so happy for the different players who came in, people like Paulo, who played fantastically well.
“He is an unbelievable option to have as a keeper and I am really happy for him and his family that he performed like that.
“It was a tough game for us after Wednesday. Palace were compact, narrow and played on the counter attack. We had possession, but not many chances.
“They were fresh after one week to prepare for the game. We had a few problems after the Madrid game and that is why I am so happy with the victory. I am very pleased with an important three points.”
The Argentine Gazzaniga pushed away Scott Dann's header with a full-stretch save and also pushed away an Andros Townsend shot and Luka Milijovec's point-blank header in the match.
About the author
Matthew Davidson, a real Tottenham Hotspur fan, is Premier League content writer for FootballPredictions.com. As well as Spurs he knows all the inside-outs of English football. In his spare time Matthew enjoys placing bets at several bookmakers.
Editor's comment - Paulo Gazzaniga was the Spurs Odyssey man of the match, which made it a grand first team debut for the 25 year old, whose last Premier League game was for Southampton against Tottenham in December 2015. (We won 2-0). Gazzaniga narrowly beat the very impressive Eric Dier for the accolade.
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Results 04-05.11.17
Stoke 2-2 Leicester
Hds'field 1-0 West Brom
Newcastle 0-1 B'mouth
S'hampton 0-1 Burnley
Swansea 0-1 Brighton
West Ham 1-4 Liverpool
Spurs 1-0 C. Palace
Man City 3-1 Arsenal
Chelsea 1-0 Man Utd
Everton 3-2 Watford
Premier League Table - 2017-18
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Man City 11 10 1 0 38-7 31 31
2. Man Utd 11 7 2 2 23-5 18 23
3. Spurs 11 7 2 2 20-7 13 23
4. Chelsea 11 7 1 3 19-10 9 22
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5. Liverpool 11 5 4 2 21-17 4 19
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6. Arsenal 11 6 1 4 20-16 4 19
7. Burnley 11 5 4 2 10-9 1 19
8. Brighton 11 4 3 4 11-11 0 15
9. Watford 11 4 3 4 17-21 -4 15
10. H'dsfield 11 4 3 4 8-13 -5 15
11. Newcastle 11 4 2 5 10-10 0 14
12. Leicester 11 3 4 4 16-16 0 13
13. S'hampton 11 3 4 4 9-11 -2 13
14. Stoke 11 3 3 5 13-22 -9 12
15. Everton 11 3 2 6 10-22 -12 11
16. West Brom 11 2 4 5 9-14 -5 10
17. B'mouth 11 3 1 7 7-14 -7 10
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18. West Ham 11 2 3 6 11-23 -12 9
19. Swansea 11 2 2 7 7-13 -6 8
20. C. Palace 11 1 1 9 4-22 -18 4
