Crystal Palace v Everton Premier League General view from inside the stadium during the Premier League match at Selhurst Park, London 10 05 2026 UK Newspapers OUT Copyright: xMalcolmxFellx FIL-23415-0002
Crystal Palace v Everton Premier League General view from inside the stadium during the Premier League match at Selhurst Park, London 10 05 2026 UK Newspapers OUT Copyright: xMalcolmxFellx FIL-23415-0002
Liverpool’s trip to south London next weekend has become a little more straightforward, after one of Crystal Palace’s most dangerous attackers was sent off inside the opening quarter of an hour at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday evening.
The game was only 12 minutes old when Micky van de Ven, captaining Spurs, beat his man to a loose ball and was caught by a late, reckless challenge that also took out teammate Jan Paul van Hecke, and referee Michael Oliver initially showed a yellow card before VAR sent him to the pitchside monitor.
After reviewing the footage, Oliver upgraded the punishment to a red card in the 13th minute, leaving Palace facing more than 75 minutes plus stoppage time with ten men, a huge opportunity for a Tottenham side who had only just seen goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky deny the visitors the first real chance of the evening.
Jean-Philippe Mateta was dismissed and the timing could hardly be worse for the Frenchman, who only recently returned from injury and was left out of Palace’s midweek cup squad for workload management, with Eddie Nketiah leading the line and scoring the winner in his absence.
A straight red card for serious foul play ordinarily carries a three match suspension in English football, and unless Palace mount a successful appeal, the first game Mateta misses will be Liverpool’s visit to Selhurst Park on Sunday 8 November, a 2pm kick off.
That is a significant loss for the Eagles, because Mateta has scored 50 Premier League goals for the club since arriving from Mainz, initially on loan in January 2021, and he finished last season as their leading league scorer with 12, even if he has yet to find the net in the top flight this term after a disrupted start.
He was also part of the squad that won the FA Cup in 2025 and then beat Liverpool on penalties in that summer’s Community Shield, and Palace followed that up by knocking the Reds out of the League Cup with a victory by three goals to nil at Anfield in October 2025, so Andoni Iraola’s players will hardly be sorry to see him miss out.
Palace still have options, with Nketiah fresh from his cup winner and Ismaïla Sarr, their top scorer in all competitions last season with 21 goals, likely to carry more of the burden, but losing a 6ft 4in focal point removes a reference point that Palace’s attack is built around.
For now, the immediate question is whether Tottenham can make the extra man count over the remaining hour and more, while Liverpool, who host Arsenal on Sunday and travel to Fenerbahçe in the Champions League on Wednesday, will be watching closely to see how Palace’s resources hold up.
Read more: Former Liverpool striker scores hat-trick in first ever start for Arsenal
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