Only an inspired performance by Sunderland keeper Jordan Pickford kept the hosts at bay as Tottenham managed 19 first-half goal attempts before the break, including one from Son Heung-min that hit the post.
Advertisement
With two further goals in the second half from James McArthur and Andros Townsend – Marko Arnautovic responded in the fourth minute of stoppage time for Stoke – Palace became the fourth team this season to score four past Hughes’ team.
Jason Puncheon drove a right-sided corner towards the penalty spot and Dann got above Ryan Shawcross to sent a header bulleting into the bottom-left corner. Sunderland will need to use their home crowd to get inspiration but it will not be easy as the team is still rebuilding as they have only recently changed manager.
Meanwhile, it was another awful performance for Mark Hughes side, who will most likely remain bottom of the table this weekend having suffered four defeats in their opening five games this season, with just one goal in their last three games.
“Clearly we didn’t have a strong start a year ago and turned our season round”, said the former Wales manager.
“We looked solid, we are a powerful team and we looked like that today, and it was that power that won us the game”. When you lost in the manner we did you can’t say anything.
Danger from set-pieces: “It’s been unusual that we’ve been conceding set-pieces, and I said to the guys that you’ve got to look at us on paper that we’re going to be very powerful at set-pieces”.
“This is not the start we expected, it’s a case of getting together and what we are doing, the game plan needs to be at a better level. You can soon go out and win five in a row, too”.
“He’s our manager and he’s got our support”, Stoke chairman Peter Coates, said. “We have an opportunity on Wednesday (against Hull) and Saturday (against West Brom) to turn things round very quickly”.
Advertisement
– Scott Dann has scored seven league goals since the start of the 2015-16 season; two more than any other Palace player and two more than any other Premier League defender.
