Crystal Palace are certainly up for the fight to stay in the Barclays Premiership.

A few more performances like this afternoon's 3-0 rout of Tottenham at Selhurst Park, and they may soon have the belief as well.

Having seen relegation rivals Southampton beat Liverpool earlier in the day, the Eagles had to get a result here to maintain their slender advantage on the bottom three.

Following a disappointing first half, Iain Dowie's men came out looking hungry for victory, and were rewarded with goals from Mikele Leigertwood and Danny Granville before Andrew Johnson's penalty wrapped things up.

Spurs, now without a win in three league games, were below par and rarely threatened, with Dean Marney's first-half effort about the best they created all afternoon.

Leigertwood was asked to play just in front of the Palace back four, looking to try to combat the threat of Jermain Defoe.

But the first chance of the match came from a free-kick, the England striker's shot from Michael Carrick's lay-off charged down by the home defence before Defoe then sent a hopeful effort on the run high from some 20 yards.

Want-away winger Wayne Routledge got a mixed reception from the Palace faithful when he went over to take a corner on the right after eight minutes and the boo-boys were given more ammunition when the midfielder - subject of a £1.5million offer from Spurs earlier this week - scuffed the cross low to the near post.

Recalled Dougie Freedman then skipped clear into the Spurs half and took the ball on into the right corner of the box. But with both Johnson and Routledge to aim at around the penalty spot, the striker's cut-back was deflected behind by Carrick.

In the 15th minute, Palace were awarded a free-kick in a central position 22 yards out when Noureddine Naybet pulled down Johnson. Granville struck the dead ball well enough, but Paul Robinson was down quickly to his right and made the save.

The tempo of the match then dropped somewhat, with both sides seeing plenty of the ball in the middle, but neither really able to create anything in the final third.

Palace captain Michael Hughes talked his way into the book on 29 minutes after being penalised for a tackle from behind on Robbie Keane. The free-kick was moved forwards by referee Chris Foy as a result to the edge of the penalty arc, and Reto Ziegler's whipped effort flew just over.

Then, after 42 minutes, the Palace keeper Gabor Kiraly was finally called into action.

The Hungarian first stood up well to block at his near post from Ziegler before then producing a fine stop, diving to his right to save Marney's fierce drive from just inside the box.

The Swiss defender was, however, soon replaced, struggling with what looked like a hamstring strain, Thimothee Atouba coming on with a minute left of the half.

The opening exchanges of the second period, though, were no better than those towards the end of the first half as neither side got a grip of proceedings.

In the 52nd minute, Carrick's slow drive from the edge of the area flew harmlessly wide of Kiraly's right-hand post.

Defoe then smashed the ball horribly wide when trying to lob the Palace keeper when the ball dropped to him a full 30 yards from goal.

At the other end, Routledge's pacey cross from the left had to be hacked behind by Atouba, with Freedman lurking at the far post.

Then out of nothing, the Eagles went in front after 66 minutes.

Young midfielder Tom Soares got clear down the left, and his first-time cross into the centre was met by Leigertwood on the volley, the ball crashing in off the underside of the bar.

And before Spurs had a chance to recover, Palace doubled their lead.

Hughes fed the ball into Routledge on the edge of the box, and he slipped a lovely pass through to Granville on the overlap. The full-back had timed his run to perfection, beating the offside trap and also Robinson with a low drive into the left corner after 70 minutes.

Any hopes Martin Jol's side had of getting back into the game were ended with 13 minutes left.

Johnson's run into the left edge of the penalty area was halted when he was tripped by Marney - and the club's leading scorer made no mistake with the resulting spot-kick.

Teams

Crystal Palace Kiraly, Boyce, Hall, Sorondo, Granville, Routledge, Leigertwood, Hughes, Soares (Borrowdale 88), Johnson (Andrews 88), Freedman.

Subs Not Used: Speroni, Powell, Lakis.

Booked: Hughes.

Goals: Leigertwood 66, Granville 70, Johnson 77 pen.

Tottenham Robinson, Pamarot (Yeates 72), King, Naybet, Edman, Marney (Kelly 82), Carrick, Pedro Mendes, Ziegler (Atouba 44), Defoe, Keane.

Subs Not Used: Gardner, Eyre.

Booked: Marney, Pamarot.

Att: 23,723

Ref: C Foy (Merseyside).