Antonio Conte praised Tottenham’s character after they bounced back from their demoralising defeat to Aston Villa by reviving their top-four challenge with a 4-0 win over Crystal Palace. Spurs were without several key players at Selhurst Park but moved two points behind fourth-placed Manchester United thanks to a superb second-half display. The outstanding Harry Kane scored twice and created a goal for Son Heung-min, and the performance delighted Conte, whose recent negative demeanour has suggested he will need to think long and hard before deciding to extend his contract before it expires at the end of the season. “It’s always important to get three points and have this type of win,” Conte said. “This brings confidence. The game against Aston Villa, after a good first half, we conceded the goal and our confidence dropped a lot and to recover in two or three days after a defeat at home where we are expected to win, and to go again, was not easy. The response was really good. My players showed great character, great personality.” It was the first time Spurs had opened the scoring in 11 games. Conte’s style of play has drawn criticism and supporters have reacted to the team’s disappointing form by calling for the chairman, Daniel Levy, to resign. However, while there were more “Levy Out” chants during the win over Palace, the performance suggested Conte’s team will be in good shape when they face Arsenal and Manchester City later this month. Conte hopes that Richarlison, Dejan Kuluseveski and Rodrigo Bentancur will return from injury for those games. “We know we face Arsenal and Man City, the two title contenders for this Premier League,” the Spurs manager said. “To arrive with a good win is really important. I hope to recover players who are injured. We are talking about important players. I hope in these 10 days to have all the players available: Richarlison, Kulu, Bentancur.” Conte praised performances from the young duo of Oliver Skipp and Bryan Gil before going on to hail Kane, who now scored 264 goals for Spurs, only two behind Jimmy Greaves’ club record. “We are talking about a world-class striker and he is going to beat every record with the goals,” said Conte. “In the difficult moments you know Harry is on the pitch, ready to fight, ready to help teammates, ready to sort the situation with goals and assists.” Patrick Vieira had few complaints after watching Palace suffer a second consecutive heavy defeat at home. “The problem was the quality of the Spurs forwards,” said Palace’s manager.