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Tottenham Hotspur’s dominance against Crystal Palace last weekend saw them break their record for the most passes in a single Premier League match.
Tottenham Hotspur’s performances in the last few weeks have been far more impressive than they were in the first six Premier League matches, when they were winless.
In the last three gameweeks, Tottenham have scored a total of seven goals against the likes of Coventry, Chelsea and Crystal Palace, and have conceded just one.
The latest upturn in form now has Spurs very close to the European places, as they sit ninth, just three points behind Liverpool in fifth.
Not only are Tottenham getting good results, but they also look to be playing with a lot of swagger and confidence under Roberto De Zerbi, who continues to instil his principles in his side.
Spurs’ latest outing against Crystal Palace stands as one of their most dominant displays of the season so far, with the statistics backing this up.
Spurs broke their all-time passing record for a Premier League game against Palace, completing 759 passes and beating the previous record of 747, set at Cardiff in January 2019.
This is not entirely surprising, as Tottenham played most of the match against ten men after Jean-Philippe Mateta was sent off in the 13th minute.
Following his red card, Palace were forced to sit deep and surrendered most of the possession to De Zerbi’s side, who had an impressive 79% possession to Palace’s 21%.
But it was not just the team that was outstanding on the ball. Tottenham centre-backs Jan Paul van Hecke and Micky van de Ven were both close to flawless in possession.
In fact, according to the official Tottenham website, van Hecke set a new record himself, completing the most passes in a single Premier League match by a Spurs player with 143.
That saw him surpass the record held by former Tottenham captain Cristian Romero, who completed 141 passes in a game – a record that was also set against Palace, on 27 October 2023.
Van de Ven was equally impressive with the ball at his feet, with the club captain setting a personal best of 123 completed passes against Palace – the fifth-highest by a Spurs player since records began in the 2003/04 season.
| Passes | Player | Opponent | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 143 | Jan Paul van Hecke | Crystal Palace | 31 October 2026 |
| 141 | Cristian Romero | Crystal Palace | 27 October 2023 |
| 134 | Davinson Sánchez | Cardiff City | 1 January 2019 |
| 126 | Harry Winks | Newcastle United | 25 August 2019 |
| 123 | Micky van de Ven | Crystal Palace | 31 October 2026 |
| 120 | Jan Vertonghen | Swansea City | 16 September 2017 |
| 117 | Toby Alderweireld | Cardiff City | 1 January 2019 |
| 117 | Cristian Romero | Crystal Palace | 2 March 2024 |
| 116 | Eric Dier | Brighton & Hove Albion | 13 December 2017 |
| 114 | Yves Bissouma | Liverpool | 30 September 2023 |