Tottenham ease pressure on Thomas Frank with victory at Crystal Palace

Archie Gray’s first goal for Tottenham ensured they ended a rollercoaster 2025 with a 1-0 win at Crystal Palace to ease the pressure on Thomas Frank.

Spurs fans had started to turn on Frank after a run of five defeats in eight left them 14th in the Premier League on Christmas Day.

While there had been no suggestions internally that Frank’s job was under immediate threat, Tottenham needed to return to winning ways and Gray’s 42nd-minute header settled the contest between the current FA Cup and Europa League holders.

It moved Spurs up to 11th but crucially they are only four points off fifth-placed Chelsea ahead of Frank’s return to old club Brentford on Wednesday.

Oliver Glasner watched his weary Palace team lose a third consecutive league game to further highlight the need for January reinforcements.

Both clubs had celebrated eagerly-awaited cup wins in May but Spurs were without one of their heroes from Bilbao with Cristian Romero suspended.

Kevin Danso replaced Romero and received a late Christmas present in the shape of a yellow card from referee Jarred Gillett after five minutes as Palace made the early running.

Chances remained limited, though, and Tottenham thought they had taken the lead in the 17th minute through Richarlison only for their celebrations to be cut short after Lucas Bergvall was deemed offside in the build-up.

Jean-Philippe Mateta signalled his intentions with an effort dragged wide from 20 yards soon after before a short free-kick routine created another chance for Palace’s number nine but he nodded over from Maxence Lacroix’s header.

That +3 feeling!