Tottenham Hotspur beat 10-man Crystal Palace 2-0 on Saturday, marking their third consecutive win.

Here are our Scout Notes from the game.

• READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 9: Saturday’s goals, assists, bonus + DefCon points
• READ MORE: FPL notes: Gross on cusp of ban + Maresca on benching Cherki

VAN HECKE 15-POINTER

Jan Paul van Hecke (£5.0m) was the star of the show in north London, as he claimed a 15-point haul for his 10.1% ownership.

The Dutchman netted the all-important second goal when he headed into the net from a seated position, having seen his initial shot saved by Dean Henderson (£4.9m).

Camped in the opponent’s half, van Hecke was the initiator of many Spurs attacks.

Indeed, he racked up five shots and three chances created, underlying numbers you’d normally associate with attacking midfielders/forwards.

Above: Jan Paul van Hecke’s shot map v Crystal Palace

After Saturday’s haul, van Hecke is now the joint-fourth top-scoring defender in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), only behind Maxim De Cuyper (£5.4m), Gabriel Magalhaes (£8.0m) and Luka Vuskovic (£5.2m).

Prior to van Hecke’s strike, Archie Gray (4.9m) headed home Mohammed Kudus’ (£6.5m) corner after some poor marking.

Kudus, who was a constant threat for the Palace defence and probably should have scored late on, has now supplied three assists in his last five matches.

SPURS ON THE UP

It’s three wins in three for Tottenham, then.

Yes, they were helped by Jean-Philippe Mateta’s (£6.3m) early red card on Saturday, but there are clear signs they are moving in the right direction under Roberto De Zerbi.

It was pretty much one-way traffic here, as Spurs racked up 34 shots and faced just two against.

“I’m very happy with the performance, because we showed to be a mature team, with clear ideas. We didn’t concede a counter-attack, maybe just one in the second half. We created many, many chances. If we want to follow the perfection, we have to be more… nasty. That is an individual thing, because if I’m number nine, number 10, I want to score, but I can’t say nothing.

“We are improving the physical condition. Tonali today was unbelievable, incredible. We played with two players more – Tonali was the double today. We are improving with Archie Gray, with Robertson, the two centre backs very good, to take the command of the game. Mateus Fernandes, another very good performance. Marmoush, Solanke, very well, especially when we lost the ball. So, it’s a clear signal that they were inside of the game. Kudus, Mathys, very well. They are improving and the team is improving.” – Roberto De Zerbi

Defensively, Spurs have now kept two clean sheets in a row.

They also rank first for expected goals conceded (xGC) over the last six Gameweeks…

“I think the best thing the players showed today was the reaction when we lost the ball, like animals. It was very important, because if we played in their half of the pitch, it was okay because we were one player more, but also because the transition was unbelievable.” – Roberto De Zerbi

DE ZERBI ON PORRO + UDOGIE

Tottenham took off Gray, the scorer of their opener, at half-time and replaced him with Pedro Porro (£5.3m).

Explaining his decision, De Zerbi said…

“No, the yellow card. I didn’t want to take a risk for another yellow card. I’m sorry, because he was playing very well. I explained why I took the decision, but I think it was the right decision in that moment.” – Roberto De Zerbi

Porro, who performed well, got some important minutes under his belt and is now ready to start.

Destiny Udogie (£4.4m) also returned off the bench on Saturday as a late substitute.

“Pedro is ready. We didn’t take risks, speaking with him, he decided before the game, he was very honest with me and I appreciate that a lot because the Premier League is 38 games, not one game.

“With Destiny Udogie, hopefully we can work many weeks in a row. Until now, it was not possible.” – Roberto De Zerbi

Elsewhere, De Zerbi made one alteration to the team that started the 2-0 win over Chelsea, with Dominic Solanke (£5.8m) in for James Maddison (£6.2m), who wasn’t risked from the start, having only recently returned from injury.

Omar Marmoush (£7.0m) subsequently played in the ‘10’.

MATETA BAN, PALACE ISSUES

Palace went down to 10 men after just 13 minutes when the referee sent Mateta off for a foul on Micky van de Ven (£5.0m).

From that point onwards, Pierre Sage’s men dropped deep into a 5-3-1 formation and gave up 80% possession to the hosts, with very little threat, although only a last-ditch block did deny makeshift centre-forward Dwight McNeil (£5.3m) a goal.

Palace will have to make do without Mateta in Gameweeks 10-12, so he’ll miss out against Liverpool, Coventry City and Hull City.

With only nine goals in nine league matches this season, the Eagles find themselves in a tricky spot.

“It is a problem with performance at the moment as a team we can be better, especially with the ball.” – Pierre Sage

At the other end of the pitch, their set-piece frailties were on show again: Palace have now conceded six headed goals in the Premier League this season, the most of any team.

Elsewhere, Anan Khalaili (£5.0m) dropped to the bench, while four members of the Palace backline, plus Adam Wharton (£5.4m) in midfield, banked defensive contribution (DefCon) points…