Crystal Palace 0-1 Tottenham: Gray´s header ends visitors´ losing streak

Archie Gray’s first senior goal secured a 1-0 win for Tottenham over Crystal Palace, who suffered a third straight Premier League defeat.

Gray snatched the winner before the break, though Palace will feel they should not have come away from Sunday’s clash empty-handed.

Richarlison – who got the assist for the winner – thought he had given Thomas Frank’s side a 17th-minute lead when he slotted through Dean Henderson’s legs, but it was chalked off as Lucas Bergvall was offside in the build-up.

Jean-Philippe Mateta and Will Hughes both missed chances to put Palace in front, and they were ultimately punished for their wastefulness in the 42nd minute.

Pedro Porro’s 42nd-minute corner was poorly defended, leaving an unmarked Gray to flick in his header from close range.

Justin Devenny ballooned an effort over the crossbar, and Maxence Lacroix headed wide in the second half as Palace continued to struggle in front of goal.

But Spurs finished stronger, with Richarlison seeing another goal ruled out for offside before Wilson Odobert struck the post and Rodrigo Bentancur forced Henderson into a sharp stop in the final few seconds.

Ending 2025 with a win on the road pic.twitter.com/rhG97TsRIz

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) December 28, 2025

Data Debrief: Spurs end the year on a high

Spurs are now just one point off the top half of the table, but it has been a rollercoaster year for the club.

Despite this victory, the only ever-present sides to win fewer Premier League points than Spurs (39 from 37 games) in 2025 are Wolves (28) and West Ham (33).

But they did enough to get over the line on Sunday, with Gray (19 years 291 days) becoming the youngest Englishman to score a league goal for the club since Dele Alli in January 2016 (19y 287d, also against Palace).

Palace, meanwhile, underperformed their 1.31 expected goals (xG) in this match and have scored 8.4 goals fewer than their xG would suggest in 2025-26 (21 goals from 29.4 xG).