Angry Spurs fans voted with their feet as thousands walked out after their struggling side shipped three goals and were reduced to 10 men in a calamitous first half against Crystal Palace.
TV footage showed hordes of supporters heading for the exits at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with their team losing 3-1 as Igor Tudor’s relegation-threatened team plumbed new depths.
Dominic Solanke put Spurs ahead before the match took a turn for the worse for the majority of fans inside the ground four minutes later.
Micky van de Ven was shown a straight red card after pulling back Ismaila Sarr, who converted the resulting penalty to level for the visitors.
Palace then took full advantage of having the extra man as Jorgen Strand Larsen gave Oliver Glasner’s men a 2-1 lead before Sarr scored again in stoppage time.
Spurs will be just one point clear of the relegation zone if they go on to lose to Palace after West Ham beat Fulham and Nottingham Forest held Manchester City to a draw on Wednesday.
TV cameras spotted Spurs fans heading for the exits after a dismal first half against Palace
Tottenham supporters voted with their feet as their relegation crisis deepened on Thursday
Tudor sent his Spurs players back out for the second half early but they were greeted by thousands of empty seats vacated by fans who had seen enough.
Tottenham only survived going behind early on when Sarr was narrowly adjudged to have been offside before his strike looped up and over Guglielmo Vicario.
Their hopes of securing a huge win in their battle to avoid the embarrassment of dropping into the Championship were given a boost when Solanke converted at the near post after 34 minutes.
But it was to prove a fleeting moment of joy for Spurs as Van de Ven was given a straight red for his challenge on Sarr when the Palace star appeared to be clean through on goal.
Strand Larsen, a £45million signing from Wolves in January, put Palace in front with a clever finish before Sarr latched on to Adam Wharton’s pinpoint pass and nudged the ball beyond Vicario to give the visitors a two-goal advantage.
Spurs’ 2-1 defeat at Fulham stretched their dismal run to 10 without a win and they are yet to record a victory in 2026.
The club sacked Thomas Frank in February after two wins in 17 Premier League games left them 16th in the table, with Tudor replacing the Dane as head coach until the end of the season.
Ismaila Sarr scored two of Palace’s three first-half goals against a struggling Spurs team
Spurs face Forest, Leeds and Championship-bound Wolves in their last nine matches but also travel to Liverpool, Aston Villa and Chelsea.
They have enjoyed success in the Champions League despite their domestic issues and travel to Spain to face Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their last-16 tie on Tuesday.
