Coming off the back of three straight defeats, the pressure was on manager Oliver Glasner, and his team delivered the goods for its fans at Selhurst Park against Ange Postecoglou's visitors.

The winner came in the 31st minute when Mateta latched onto Eberechi Eze’s clever flick and drilled in from close range.

Brennan Johnson had the best chance for Spurs when his shot struck the post before seeing the rebound cleared off the line by Trevor Chalobah.

But Palace looked most likely to get the game’s second goal, and Eze saw one ruled out for offside while Adam Wharton was thwarted by Spurs keeper Guglielmo Vicario.

The Eagles were not made to pay for failing to add a second, however, as they claimed a morale-boosting result that takes them up to 17th, while Tottenham is eighth after two defeats from its past three league matches.

Vicario admitted his side lacked fight after the defeat as it managed only three shots on target throughout the match, resulting in an expected goals (xG) total of just 0.72.

"They fight and I think we lacked that today. We are disappointed because we have to fight. We play good football but maybe sometimes we lack the desire to fight. They show a real desire to fight for something,” he said.

"I just want to focus on us and what we didn't do as a team. I think we lacked a bit of energy and to be better than them. We have to take this personally and it has to hurt us a lot. Football gives us an opportunity again and we have to be ready for the cup."

Tottenham was without captain Son Heung-Min, who is also the club's joint-top scorer this season (three) with a total of five goal contributions.

"He is the captain but we have a big squad and we have to deal with that. We have to be able to win games without Son. We lacked in something, not in football, but attitude and fight," Vicario added on his captain’s absence.

The result represented only the second win for Palace across its past 19 Premier League games against Tottenham, although both victories in that time have come at Selhurst Park while keeping a clean sheet.

"It was one of those games with a lot of stoppages and battles and they ended up winning a lot of them and coming out on top. There was a lot of disruption and it was hard to get any fluency. They did better than us,” Postecoglou said.

"It turned into a game they were thriving on and we should have dealt with it better. It was a poor goal to concede, it had nothing to do with playing out from the back. That can happen.

"I'd be very surprised if they were happy right now. Why would I be happy? If I'm unhappy then they'll be unhappy. If you're suggesting that our fans weren't happy with today then that's a fair assessment."

For Glasner, this victory over Tottenham represented “the benchmark” for his side going forward.

"It helps all of us if we play in that way. We are a very good team and it's very difficult to beat us. Getting this response, this game helps us,” the Austrian said.

"We have to show it again in three days against Villa. This is the benchmark. You can score and concede, this is football.”

Palace managed 14 shots throughout the game, with six of those on target. It was more than its traditionally attacking opponent could muster as it put just three shots on target and caused few problems for the hosts.

While Glasner’s side was unable to capitalise further on its dominance, he was delighted with the performance.

"Congratulations to team, to the players for how they played today with passion and courage. They showed it on the pitch against a good Tottenham team,” he added.

"The players took it as a chance and every single phase we played great and moved the ball. A very good performance today.

"I mentioned before the game that if we were convinced changing the formation was the solution then we would do it immediately. Tottenham tried everything late on. The players did it amazing and that is why we won this game."

Eze looked back to his best, as he notched the second-highest expected goals (xG) total on his team (0.16), only beaten by goalscorer Mateta (0.24).

He contributed the assist with a skilful flick to direct Daniel Munoz’s cross into the path of Mateta. He also took the most shots (four) and had the most touches in the box (seven) of both sides.

"I think we see the old Eze all season. He's been a bit unlucky. We know he is technically unbelievable,” Glasner said.

“He scored a great goal but was offside. I think it's a penalty but I didn't see it on TV. If he has a free shot then he shoots so I don't know why he would lie down on the grass.”