Tottenham trims Chelsea’s lead to 4 points

Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur - Premier League - Emirates Stadium - 6/11/16 Tottenham's Harry Kane celebrates scoring their first goal from the penalty spot Action Images via Reuters / Andrew Couldridge Livepic

Tottenham trimmed Chelsea’s lead to four points again by edging past Crystal Palace 1-0 on Wednesday night, with Christian Eriksen clinching the north London team’s eighth successive Premier League win.

Eriksen collected a pass from Harry Kane and unleashed a dipping shot from around 25 yards meters in the 78th minute into the bottom corner of the net.

Tottenham’s bid for a first title since 1961 rests on Chelsea dropping points on the five-game final stretch. But the team’s character in recovering from Saturday’s FA Cup semifinal loss to Chelsea pleased manager Mauricio Pochettino.

“That was always going to be difficult after Saturday and it was a big challenge for us,” Pochettino said. “I think it was a great opportunity to show we are focused on us and trying to improve our game, and to fight when we are under pressure.”

Tottenham looked far from title contenders in the first half, with Christian Benteke and Andros Townsend close to giving Palace the lead.

Pochettino made a double change at the break, replacing central midfielders Mousa Dembele and Victor Wanyama with Son Heung-min and Moussa Sissoko.

Dele Alli should have put Spurs ahead when he met Kyle Walker’s cross three meters out, only to side-foot his effort across goal and wide. But Eriksen clinched the three points.

“I am very pleased for Christian, it was an unbelievable goal,” Pochettino said. “We changed things at halftime and in the second half, we were much better. After 90, 95 minutes I think we fully deserved the win.”

Palace had won six of its previous eight games.