FULL TIME: Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 Sunderland
Spurs restate their title credentials, then. Not because they played particularly well, or because they close to within four points of leaders Arsenal and Leicester. They’ve stated their case by coming from behind against tricky opposition and winning comfortably, despite never quite clicking into top gear. That, as we all know, is the sort of thing title winners do. Onwards and upwards, then. As for Sunderland? Some plus points: they were right in this match for an hour, Jordan Pickford was impressive despite letting in four, Patrick Van Aanholt was magnificent in attack, and at least Jan Kirchhoff didn’t complete the full nightmare debut by getting himself sent off.
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90 min +2: That’s two of the three added minutes elapsed.
90 min +1: ... Spurs break upfield. Alli enters the Sunderland area on the left, and claims a penalty when he’s sent crashing by Van Aanholt, but he was eased off the ball well by the impressive Sunderland full back.
90 min: Watmore makes a proper nuisance of himself down the left. He breaks into the box and slips a pass across to Jones, on the right-hand edge of the Spurs D. Jones shoots low. Rose comes out to block, the ball squirting off for a corner on the left. From which ...
88 min: Kane, to warm applause, is replaced by Son.
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86 min: Watmore is a talented lad, a whirling dervish. He flicks the ball up over his head and spins round Alderweireld, making ground down the middle then swapping passes with Johnson before very nearly breaking clear down the right. Rose comes across to intercept just as it looks like Spurs are in trouble.
84 min: Van Aanholt has been Sunderland’s best player by far. He scoots down the left and his low centre is nearly met by Watmore, rushing in. Alderweireld isn’t to be passed, though.
83 min: This could get embarrassing if Sunderland aren’t careful. Kane tears into space down the right, but his low centre for Eriksen is cut out by ... Kirchhoff, who has something in the credit column at last.
82 min: Corner for Spurs on the left. It’s hit deep, and Alderweireld heads wide right from the right-hand corner of the six-yard box.
80 min: Carroll comes on for Dembele. Spurs, snoozing a little after the goal, afford Rodwell far too much space in the left-hand side of the box. He’s got time to get a shot on target, but drags it across the face and wide right. Turns out he was offside, too.
GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 Sunderland (Kane 79 pen)
Kirchhoff is enduring a nightmare debut. He’s just needlessly upended Rose, sliding in from behind as the full back enters the Spurs area from the left. A no-brainer of a penalty kick. Kane slots it into the bottom left. This is over!
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78 min: Let’s keep an eye on this. Van Aanholt prepares to take a throw. Alli gathers the ball and, with his back to his opponent, throws it behind him, up into Van Aanholt’s startled coupon. Van Aanholt is beside himself with rage, and needs a good talking to by the ref. That looked accidental, to be fair to Alli, if a little clumsy.
76 min: Sunderland look like a defeated team right now. Passes aren’t sticking. The collective head has dropped. With a view to shaking things up a bit, Lens is replaced by the determined livewire Duncan Watmore.
74 min: Lens hoofs Rose in the face. A toe in the eye. Ooyah, oof. Totally accidental.
73 min: Spurs make their first change of the afternoon: Lamela is replaced by the very promising Josh Onomah.
72 min: Space down the inside-right for Kane. He sends a rising shot towards the top left from just inside the box. Once again, Pickford is up to the challenge. He parries away confidently.
70 min: Space for Van Aanholt down the left. He’s tight on the byline, and pulls a ball across for Defoe. The ball brushes Trippier’s chest, and though there’s a bellow from the Sunderland fans for a penalty kick, the referee’s not to be fooled. Vertonghen clears.
69 min: That was dismal defending by the Sunderland debutant Kirchhoff. Really half-arsed. No accounting for the absurd curl the ball took off his leg, of course, but I very much doubt Allardyce will factor that in during his trenchant post-match debrief.
GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Sunderland (Eriksen 67)
They’re comfortable now all right. Eriksen strides down the centre of the park. He has a dig from 30 yards. Kirchhoff sticks a leg out and turns his back in one smooth movement. It’s not much of a defensive challenge. The ball loops off his leg and curls viciously into the top-right corner. Pickford had no chance.
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66 min: Sunderland can’t get anything going up front. Spurs are looking very comfortable now.
64 min: Defoe skitters down the left but he’s got no support. He gestures to his team-mates for help. It eventually arrives, but by this time Spurs have regained their shape. Van Aanholt’s diagonal ball is won by Johnson on the right-hand corner of the Spurs box, but the Sunderland man can only head harmlessly out for a goal kick.
62 min: Alli has time and space in the middle of the Sunderland half. Rose is romping down the left. A ball out to that wing will send the marauding full-back clear on goal. But inexplicably - well, maybe not, he’s a young man - Alli tries to play a can-opener of a pass down the middle for Kane. Sunderland swarm around the pass and the danger is gone.
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GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Sunderland (Dembele 60)
... Dembele picks up possession on the right-hand corner of the box. He nudges the ball inside, then twists and batters a low shot into the bottom-right corner. Pickford had made a couple of great saves, but he was wrong-footed there and beaten at his near post.
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59 min: Graham is replaced by Kirchhoff. From the restart, Kane powers towards the area and lashes a shot towards the bottom left. Pickford turns the ball round the post. A brilliant stop. From the corner, Rose has another dig from the edge of the area. Pickford fists out well. But to no avail, because ...
58 min: It’s difficult to see this ending without another goal being scored. With Defoe lurking in the Spurs area, Lloris is forced to race off his line and punch a right-wing cross clear with purpose. Spurs hearts in mouths for a second there.
56 min: Vertonghen, striding forward from deep down the inside-left channel, exchanges passes with Kane and tries to curl one into the top right from 25 yards. It’s a defender’s finish, but what a positive, powerful run from the big defender.
55 min: But Sunderland will still have one player on a yellow, because Johnson picks one up for a tug on Rose. From the resulting free kick, Lamela, on the left of the D, chips delicately across to Alli, who glides in from the right and attempts to steer a header into the top left. It’s just wide. Nice try.
54 min: Cattermole, on a booking, is replaced by Rodwell.
53 min: Sunderland should be leading. Spurs have a free kick close to the Sunderland corner flag on the right. The set piece is an over-elaborate nonsense, pulled back to Eriksen on the edge of the area and chipped forward weakly. Sunderland clear their lines, and spring forward on the counter. It’s two on two! Johnson feeds Defoe down the left. He’s got the ball at his feet inside the area, but lashes a rising drive into the side netting. A tight angle, maybe, but he had to make Lloris work at the very lease.
51 min: Everyone flattering to deceive at the moment. Trippier comes in from the right, a promising run, but there’s nobody showing in the centre. He throws his arms out in frustration. Then Defoe tries to spin and go on a run not dissimilar to Michael Owen’s goal against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup. But before a shiver goes down Mauricio Pochettino’s spine, Alderweireld eases him off the ball.
49 min: The second half’s taking much the same shape as the first: Spurs doing an awful lot of passing, this way and that, but coming unstuck against two neon-lime lines of Sunderland defence.
48 min: A bit of space for Eriksen on the right of the Sunderland box. He whips the ball through the danger zone, but Kane can’t quite get on the end of it. O’Shea bundles the ball out of play for a corner, a set piece which proves to be a total waste of precious time.
46 min: In the least newsy bit of news in the history of the Fourth Estate, Lee Cattermole picks up a booking. He’s clipped Rose cynically, and can have no complaints.
And we're off again!
No changes. Sunderland get the ball rolling for the second half. And they’re on the front foot immediately, Van Aanholt executing a lovely bit of skill down the left, flicking the ball over Lamela’s head, spinning around and scooting off down the wing. He looks for Lens on the edge of the area, but the pass doesn’t stick.
Half-time entertainment: In case you missed it, here’s our man Barney Ronay on the current non-Spursy state of Spurs.
HALF TIME: Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Sunderland
Well, that suddenly burst into life, didn’t it. A mildly diverting half for 40 minutes, then some crazy end-to-end nonsense for the last portion. Sunderland will be frustrated at the way they let that lead slip, but they’d have taken a draw at this stage. With Spurs desperate for their first win of 2016, the second half promises to be a cracker.
45 min +2: In the second of two added minutes, Eriksen cuts in from the right and creams a shot towards the bottom right from 25 yards. It’s heading in, but the impressive Pickford fingertips round the post. A couple of corners come to nothing.
44 min: A whopping 92 seconds between the goals. Oh to be a fly on the Sunderland dressing room wall when Sam Allardyce picks the bones out of that one. Sunderland, to their credit, go up the other end and try for a positive response of their own. Lens is upended by Dembele on the edge of the Spurs box. Free kick in a very dangerous position. Defoe tries to thread it into the bottom right, but his trundler is never beating Lloris, who gathers calmly enough.
GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Sunderland (Eriksen 42)
What a response by Spurs! Eriksen slides Kane into the box down the right. Pickford comes off his line, closes the striker down, and parries the shot brilliantly! But no fortune for the poor young keeper: the ball deflects to Eriksen on the right-hand edge of the D. He sends the ball whistling goalwards. Cattermole’s on the line covering, but can’t shape his body properly and ends up kneeing a clearance backwards and into the roof of the net. Calling that an own goal would be tight ... but ... hmmm. It’s Eriksen’s, surely?
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GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 0-1 Sunderland (Van Aanholt 40)
Now it’s Eriksen’s turn to gift the ball to Sunderland in the middle of the park. Lens slides Defoe into space down the right. He earns a throw. The ball’s worked across to the left for Johnson, who unpicks Tottenham’s lock with a gorgeous sliderule pass down the flank between Trippier and Alli. Van Aanholt is free in the area, and doesn’t worry about the tight angle. He batters it home!
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37 min: Trippier meets a pass down the right wing with a stunning first-time cross, the ball sent wheeching along the corridor of uncertainty. But nobody in white had anticipated it. Alli tries his best to connect with a run from deep at the left-hand post, but it’s futile. That’s a peach of a ball from Trippier, though.
35 min: Graham outjumps Trippier down the left and the ball’s at Defoe’s feet, on the edge of the Spurs area. Defoe looks to skedaddle into space on the outside of Alderweireld, but the centre-half stands strong, and puts the ball out on the left. From the resulting throw, Spurs break upfield, and they’re five on two! Dembele tears down the middle, and slides the ball to the left for Lamela, who drags a wasteful shot across Pickford and out to the right of the goal. On the touchline, Mauricio Pochettino has a face on, which suggests he thinks his side should have converted that chance into the opening goal.
34 min: Spurs don’t half like making trouble for themselves. Now it’s Rose’s turn to give the ball away cheaply in the middle of the park. Once again, Defoe shows down the inside-right channel, but he’s let down by the pass forward, M’Vila the culprit this time.
32 min: Eriksen floats a cross into the Sunderland box from the right. He finds the head of Kane, 12 yards out. Kane looks for the left-hand portion of the net, but O’Shea deflects a slightly wafted effort out for a corner. The set piece is, once again, a total non-event.
30 min: Lamela presses down the inside-right channel. Van Aanholt fails to clear properly, and Kane has the space and time to the right of the D to drop a shoulder, step infield, and look for the bottom-right corner. His shot is blocked wide right for a corner, which is wasted. Sunderland are holding firm at the moment without too much drama.
27 min: Alli embarks on a Power Sashay down the inside-left channel, and very nearly breaks into the Sunderland box. He’d have been clear on goal were it not for a sturdy block by O’Shea. Beautiful skill from the Future Of English Football there. He claims a free kick, but he was going down looking for that.
26 min: Up the other end, Lens tries to send a screaming, dipping volley into the top right from a position 30 yards up the inside-left channel. Nope!
25 min: Rose has a shot from 3o yards. Nope! A slightly impatient effort, that: Spurs were pressing Sunderland back, with plenty of options for a pass either side.
24 min: A little more positivity from Sunderland. First a free kick in the middle of the Spurs half is sent towards the head of O’Shea on the edge of the area. He should win the header but doesn’t, and concedes a free kick while he’s at it. Then Lens is sent skittering down the left by Van Aanholt, but there’s nobody in the centre for him to find, and he overhits the cross anyway. Spurs have been the better side, but there’s a wee sign that they’ll not be getting it all their own way.
21 min: A ball hooked in from the Spurs right. Jones and Kane go up for an aerial challenge. Pickford comes off his line to pluck the ball from the sky. But there are calls for a penalty kick there, with Jones helping himself to a handful of the front of Kane’s shirt as the two pirouette in mid-air. You’ve seen penalties given for that, though it would have been a very soft one, as all that tugging didn’t seem to have much an effect on Kane’s jump.
20 min: Trippier tries to release Lamela down the right. Van Aanholt does very well to step across and guide the ball out of play. Pickford kicks long, and Defoe nearly gets on the end of a knockdown. But not quite. Play goes back up the other end again, and O’Shea brings Kane down, 30 yards from goal on the left. The free kick ends up at the feet of Dembele, on the edge of the area. A poor shot is blocked. But this is turning into good end-to-end fun.
17 min: Eriksen, out on the left, finds Kane on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box with a low cross. Kane toe-pokes a first-time effort miles wide left. Radar off. “Has there been any word about Jermaine Defoe’s quest to acquire a personal assistant?” wonders JR in Illinois. “If he found one he might need to consider firing them. His global brand has not really made much of a dent here in the States. Hardly anyone here even knows about his remarkable midweek offside hat-trick.”
15 min: An appalling square pass in midfield by Dembele gifts the ball to Lens in the centre circle. Spurs are light at the back, and Defoe’s making his presence known down the inside-right channel. A perfectly weighted pass, and Spurs are in all sorts of bother. But Lens clumps an equally dismal pass forward, giving Defoe no chance whatsoever, and the brief flicker of extreme danger is quickly extinguished.
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14 min: The home side are on top in terms of possession and territory. But Sunderland, that one chance given up to Alli apart, have been standing firm. This match hasn’t quite sparked to life yet. Both sides will be happy enough in their own ways.
11 min: A period of pinball nonsense just outside Sunderland’s box. Lamela, Eriksen, Alli and Dier swarm around the ball, but can’t pick the lock of a packed away defence. So the ball rat-a-tats around for a while. Eventually it’s hoicked upfield by Cattermole. Game over.
9 min: Sunderland fail to clear the corner. The ball breaks to the feet of Alli, who must score from the penalty spot, with enough time to pick his spot. But he leans back and sends the ball sailing over the bar. That’s a poor miss from a superb player. Spurs should be leading.
8 min: ... Spurs break upfield, Vertonghen heading a poor corner powerfully away from danger. Dembele has Kane ahead of him, and players to his right, but allows Cattermole to intercept. Spurs had men over there. But no matter, because Spurs embark on another attack, and Rose wins a corner down the left. From which ...
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7 min: Johnson, in the centre circle, sprays a fine diagonal pass out left for Defoe, who eats up the ground and earns his team a corner. From which ...
5 min: Sunderland had that early sortie through Lens, but since then they’ve not seen the ball. Spurs stroke it around awhile, very patiently, then suddenly Kane bursts down the inside-left channel, glides infield a bit, and curls a fine effort towards the bottom right. It’s going in, but Pickford fingertips round the post. A good save that’ll breed confidence. The resulting corner is a thundering non-event.
3 min: Trippier goes up the other end, and wins a corner off Graham’s hand down the right. Eriksen takes the free kick, which finds the head of Vertonghen in the centre of the Sunderland box. His header is weak and straight at Pickford. The young debutant will be grateful for the early sighter.
2 min: A fairly proactive start by Sunderland, with Lens bothering Trippier down the left near the Spurs penalty box. The full back does his job, and a very vague whiff of danger is snuffed out without fuss. The away side showing a little attacking intent early doors.
And we're off!
The home favourites get the ball rolling. A rare old atmosphere on a bright, crisp, cold afternoon at White Hart Lane.
The teams are out. Tottenham are in their famous and very beautiful lilywhite shirts. The nicest crest in the Premier League? That cockerel is in with a shout. Sunderland have a gorgeous first-choice strip too, but they can’t wear that today: instead, they’re in Swansea-bothering neon green with lemon trim. Ach. Perhaps it looks nice with jeans. Hands are being shaken, coins are being tossed, songs are being sung. We’ll be off in a minute!
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Mauricio Pochettino talks! “We have a lot of games ahead and it is too early to start to speak about the title. We need to win games. We need to try to win today, because after our defeat against Leicester we are disappointed. Our performance was good, but the result was negative. The players are hungry to play today and show last Wednesday was an accident.” As for changing the full backs? “It’s important the players are fresh. We’re coming out of a very busy period. We’re always trying to manage our players, and give a freshness to our team.”
Sam Allardyce speaks! “We’re striving for a little more consistency in between our wins. We’re not picking up enough draws in my opinion. In fact we haven’t picked any draws up! That’s been one of our problems. When we’re good we’re good, but when we’re in the game, we’re throwing it away and losing it rather than drawing. So we have to get that right. We’re going in the right direction. A couple of new players have joined us. Every game is a giant game trying to catch up the points total. From our point of view we’re trying to get to a level points-per-game scenario: 38 for safety. We’re chipping away at it. Hopefully we can chip a few more points today.” As for Jordan Pickford? “He’s an exceptional goalkeeper. Mannone’s been playing well, but there’s a good competition for places.”
Tottenham make three changes to the team that started the midweek defeat to Leicester. It’s a full full-back switcheroo: Kyle Walker and Ben Davies make way for Kieran Trippier and Danny Rose. Meanwhile Mousa Dembele comes into the midfield in place of Tom Carroll.
Sunderland meanwhile make two adjustments from the side sent out to thrash Swansea during the week. Keeper Vito Mannone drops to the bench, with Jordan Pickford taking his place. That’s a big call: Pickford’s 21, and will be making his Premier League debut. At the other end of the pitch, Fabio Borini loses his place to Danny Graham.
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The teams
Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris, Trippier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose, Dier, Dembele, Lamela, Alli, Eriksen, Kane.
Subs: Son, Vorm, Chadli, Onomah, Wimmer, Carroll, Davies.
Sunderland: Pickford, Jones, Brown, O’Shea, Van Aanholt, Johnson, Cattermole, M’Vila, Graham, Defoe, Lens.
Subs: Rodwell, Borini, Toivonen, Mannone, Fletcher, Kirchhoff, Watmore.
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral).
Good day!
“Lads, it’s Tottenham.” Like all the best stand-up, the story Roy Keane once told of Sir Alex Ferguson’s shortest yet most famous pre-match team-talk was funny because it was true. “We didn’t need a big team talk ... I thought please don’t go on about Tottenham, we all know what Tottenham is about, they are nice and tidy but we’ll fucking do them. He came in and said: ‘Lads, it’s Tottenham’, and that was it. Brilliant.”
Those old doubts shouldn’t linger, but they do. Tottenham under Maurico Pochettino are beginning to look like the real deal: a world-class keeper, the best defence in the Premier League, some of the brightest midfield talent in the country, Harry Kane up front. On their day, nobody in the country is better, and they’ve earned the right to be mentioned in the same breath as Manchester City and Arsenal as possible title winners this season. Nice and tidy, but also suddenly not so easy to “fucking do”.
However, having emerged from the pack as a genuine force, they’ve proceeded to stumble in a way one could describe as Tottenhamesque. They’ve only won one of their last four home games in the Premier League, against struggling Norwich City, while losing unexpectedly twice on their own turf to Newcastle United and Leicester City. They haven’t won yet in 2016. They could do with rediscovering a little momentum quicksmart if they’re to keep on the coattails of Arsenal, Leicester and Manchester City.
A home game against relegation haunted Sunderland seems ideal, then. Or it would have done a couple of weeks ago. The Black Cats lost all five of their Premier League fixtures in December, but they’ve suddenly sparked into life: a 3-1 home win over Aston Villa has been followed up by a 4-2 skelping of Swansea City. Spurs away is admittedly a far tougher proposition, but Sam Allardyce appears to have injected a little hope into what previously appeared to be a futile battle against the drop - and former Spur Jermain Defoe is suddenly among the goals, with five in his last two games.
“We need to improve in all areas and all aspects,” admits Pochettino. If his team relocate their mojo this afternoon, they should have way too much for Sunderland, and their title charge will be back on. But should they continue to flounder, folk may start to wonder whether this is simply another famous Tottenham mirage. It’s Tottenham all right. But which one? It’ll be fascinating finding out, especially as Sunderland are fighting for their lives. It’s on!
Kick off: 12.45pm GMT.
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