Pressure piles on Pierre Sage as Crystal Palace sack looms after Tottenham defeat

The south Londoners were beaten 2-0 by Tottenham on Saturday evening in a result that sees them plunged into the Premier League relegation zone.It extends a run of three league games without a victory, which stretches back to the start of October, when they beat former manager Oliver Glasner and his Nottingham Forest side 3-1 at Selhurst Park. Palace went down to ten men early on at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Jean-Philippe Mateta was shown a red card for a late lunge on Micky van de Ven, and he was given his marching orders after his initial yellow card was upgraded to a red after VAR intervened and advised referee Michael Oliver to consult the pitchside monitor. Goalscorer: Jan Paul van HeckePAArchie Gray then nodded in the opener for a resurgent Spurs, who are up to eighth, and former Brighton defender Jan Paul van Hecke added a second after half time to wrap up the points on a comfortbale evening for Roberto De Zerbi’s hosts, who have now won three games on the bounce in the English top flight. Questions had been asked about Sage’s long-term future at Palace, and his position will be in further doubt after a sixth league defeat in nine, and just two victories coming from his the opening Premier League matches of his tenure. The Eagles take on Hoffenheim at home in the Europa League next, before they welcome Liverpool to Selhurst Park next weekend.