Tottenham vs Crystal Palace: Win was more than a return to White Hart Lane, it was a return to form

For all the fireworks and light shows, Spurs needed a win more than a performance and they need a top-four finish more than any gleaming stadium

If this gleaming new ground on the site of the old White Hart Lane is the stadium that Tottenham needed but had to wait just a tiny bit too long for, then this win over Crystal Palace that christened it was not too different.

Where they differed was the finish, with the currently nameless Tottenham Hotspur Stadium boasting stunning aesthetics and attention to detail while Spurs themselves scored two goals so messy the fans barely knew whether to cheer or guffaw.

Having gone nearly two months without a Premier League victory, this win was not quite as overdue as the stadium itself but when you are suffering a run like Spurs had been, dropped points make minutes feel like hours and days feel like weeks. The process of edging past Roy Hodgson's rather unambitious Palace side was as frustrating for Mauricio Pochettino as it must have been for Daniel Levy, coping with a stream of unhappy contractors, unflattering newspaper headlines and gradually swelling test events to gain the relevant safety certificates.

The good news for Spurs is that it's over - both the wait for a much-needed return to Tottenham itself, re-establishing the club where it belongs, in its community, and the win that puts them back into the driving seat for Champions League qualification. Truth be told, they could have afforded to wait a little longer for the stadium. A win, however, may be far more significant in the medium-term. This is a team that is not fixed necessarily, but back on track for now. Not overflowing with joy so much, but filled with blessed relief.

As much as it might seem as if the opening of their new stadium - and a magnificent stadium at that - will herald a new era for Spurs, once the smoke from the fireworks had cleared it felt more as if it was simply the end of a slightly unhappy one spent a few miles across north London.

On the pitch, Pochettino's side maintained their top-four status and continued to sit at the table with Europe's elite throughout their awkward and uneasily prolonged stay at Wembley, but that will all count for very little if they fall out of the Champions League now they are in their shiny new home. Qualifying for Uefa's top-tier competition is non-negotiable, especially with a stadium to pay for, and while a performance would have been nice on a night like this, under the newest and brightest of lights, the result was far more important.

The 2019 iteration of White Hart Lane boasts brilliant facilities but every one of the nearly 60,000 fans that packed the stands rising high into the north London night knew that the elite players Spurs have so impressively retained while squatting at Wembley will simply not be here in 2020 should Champions League football not be gracing its state-of-the-art pitch. It's an unavoidable situation, and the race to finish in the top four has become more complex - and, for Tottenham, more difficult - with every passing week. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's momentum with Manchester United hit something of a roadblock at Molineux on Tuesday night while Chelsea, despite having a manager under siege, a transfer ban and an owner who is nowhere to be seen, got back on track in a big way against Brighton. Arsenal's good run of form has come at the right time to worry Spurs, who for all their dominance in the first half against Palace simply struggled to create chances let alone convert them.

The Eagles were so blunt in attack, so unadventurous, that they could not even test whether Hugo Lloris' recent blip was just that or a sign of worrying decline. It meant a game where, to a neutral, it felt like a matter of time until Spurs would open the scoring. For the fans delighted to be returning home, there was less confidence in its inevitability after not seeing Spurs win since February 10th.

Heung-min Son would be the man to save them in the end, his deflected goal much scrappier than his performance had merited. The Korean shone on a night when few did, though Christian Eriksen's return to form is worthy of mention. The Danish playmaker scored the second goal, the one that eventually spurred Palace into action far too late, and while his future with the club remains in doubt this was a welcome reminder of what the midfielder can offer. If his rediscovered form continues then Spurs can look forward to more trips to the Bernabeu and the like next year.

For those worrying first 55 minutes when fans were wondering if they'd bought season tickets for the nicest stadium in the Europa League next season, the thought of potential departures for Eriksen, Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Toby Alderweireld would have chilled the bones more than the curiously Arctic conditions for early April. And yet once Spurs had the scored through Son there was that wave of relief, a reminder that Tottenham's destiny remains in their own hands, and that on their day they remain one of the Premier League's best sides. Had their dominance prevailed against Liverpool, they would be streaking clear of those teams that had begun to breathe somewhat uncomfortably down their neck.

The return to White Hart Lane is done and the return to winning ways achieved. Now it is time to confirm a return to the Champions League for next season, because only then will talk of a new golden era be justified for a team whose glorious homecoming night, like their status among the elite, continues to feel fragile at times.