Match report
Full time: Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Sunderland
Spurs could and probably should have won that by five goals or more, but they will be happy enough with the points and a goal for Harry Kane; less so with injuries to Kane, Dier and Dembele. Thanks for your company, bye.
90+3 min Janssen wallops high over the bar from 20 yards. He should have played it to Lamela when Sunderland had a two-on-one.
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90+1 min Djilobodji is booked for pulling Janssen just outside the box. He was the last man, although it wasn’t necessarily a clear goalscoring opportunity.
90 min: Januzaj sent off for Sunderland
Adnan Januzaj gets a second yellow for a silly, studs-up tackle on Ben Davies. Mike Dean had no choice.
89 min Harry Kane, who is lying off the field, needs a stretcher to return to the dressing-room. He fell awkwardly after a block tackle on Djilobodji.
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88 min Manquillo’s flat cross is flicked well wide by the head of Watmore, 15 yards from goal. That’s Sunderland’s fifth attempt at goal; Spurs have had 27.
87 min Harry Kane is limping off and has been replaced by Vincent Janssen.
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86 min Pickford makes a sensational save from Lamela’s curler. He was at full stretch, diving to his right, and just brushed it with his fingertips. There won’t be many better saves this season.
82 min Lamela’s shot is deflected just wide with Pickford wrong-footed. Spurs could easily have scored 10 today.
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81 min Januzaj is booked for talking inappropriately to referee Mike Dean.
80 min I’ve always wanted to do a Joy of Six: one-goal thrashings. Should that magical day ever come, this game will be on the longlist.
79 min Another Sunderland change: Kirchhoff off, Khazri on.
77 min Eric Dier is also leaving the field with a tight hamstring. Ben Davies replaces him, so Vertonghen goes to centre-back.
76 min Spurs have been so incredibly dominant that a Sunderland equaliser feels inevitable.
74 min Dembele has an injury and has been replaced by Erik Lamela.
73 min Alli runs from the centre circle to the edge of the area unchallenged before screwing a shot that shimmers across the turf and is palmed round by Pickford. From the ensuing corner, Dier drags a half-volley just wide of the far post.
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68 min Manquillo goes on a fine run down the left that earns Sunderland a corner. Januzaj’s outswinger is nutted over the bar by Kone.
67 min Ndong plays an excellent pass down the left to Watmore, whose first-time cross flashes across the six-yard box with Defoe surprisingly on his sheels.
65 min The goal hasn’t altered the pattern of the game at all. Ndong is booked for a foul on Son.
63 min Sunderland make a change, with the excellent Duncan Watmore replacing Steven Pienaar.
62 min Lee Cattermole is booked for being Lee Cattermole.
61 min That was awful from Djilobodji, who was in his six-yard box and tried to chest the ball down like Franz Beckenbauer. Instead he miscontrolled it straight to Kane, who did the necessary.
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GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Sunderland (Kane 59)
Well, it was coming. Walker’s deep cross is headed down by Alli. Djilobodji makes a desperate mess of clearing it inside the six-yard box, and Kane sidefoots past Pickford.
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57 min Denayer is booked for a foul on Son.
56 min Son beats Denayer on the left and passes the ball right across the face of goal with no Spurs player able to get on the end of it.
56 min A goal is coming, Frank said.
55 min Son gets behind the right-back Denayer to receive Dembele’s excellent pass, but then he blasts into the side-netting from the left side of the six-yard box. Alli, unmarked at the far post, was the better option.
53 min Pickford backpedals desperately to palm Sissoko’s cross away from Alli at the far post. He’s had a fine game.
52 min Kone puts hands on Alli on the edge of the box, though Mike Dean doesn’t give anything. The ball comes to Son, whose shot is deflected behind for a corner.
50 min Sunderland can’t get out at all. As diligent as they are, it’s hard to see them keeping this up for a full 90 minutes without conceding.
47 min The second half is already following the same pattern as the first, with Sunderland holding on for a dear point.
46 min Peep peep! Sunderland begin the second half, kicking from right to left.
Half time: Tottenham Hotspur 0-0 Sunderland
Sunderland have been battered, yet they could be ahead. See you in 10 minutes for the second half.
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44 min Walker clears off the line from Pienaar. Sunderland almost stole the lead. A half-cleared cross from the right came to Januzaj, who slipped Dier beautifully and played the ball back to Pienaar in the six-yard box. He didn’t connect cleanly with his first-time shot but it beat Lloris and would have gone in but for Walker’s intervention.
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41 min Son’s awkward dipping corner is sliced just wide of his own goal by Djilobodji. That’s the first of four corners in quick succession until Pienaar finally gives Sunderland some respite. About two seconds’ respite, but it’s better than nothing.
40 min “Sissoko looks like he hasn’t worked out if he is supposed be running with the ball and attacking from deep or running past the last man,” says Jeremy Dresner. “So far he is stuck in two minds and is either doing neither or doing both very badly. Depends if his mind is made up on that.”
Well that’s what you get when you play him out of position to accommodate Rooney.
39 min Son cuts inside from the left and smacks a low shot off the outside of the post. I’m not sure whether Pickford had it covered; either way, he got straight to his feet and adminstered a bol- sorry a rollocking to his defence.
38 min Sunderland are defending with increasing comfort, and Pickford has had nothing to do for the last 20 minutes or so.
36 min After two fouls in 45 seconds, Kirchhoff gets his last warning from Mike Dean.
34 min Sissoko is flattened by Djilobodji and looks in some pain. I think it was a clash of knees; certainly nothing naughty from Djilobodji.
32 min This game is in need of a goal. Can referee Mike Dean conjure up a penalty for either side?
28 min Another corner to Spurs, whose pressure has been incessant. Nothing comes of it.
25 min A bit of pinball in the Sunderland box ends when Sissoko volleys the loose ball wide from 18 yards.
23 min “Yes, all that talk of the Crisis Baton going to Mourinho earlier and you could see Hughes on the next stool (‘Blind Date’ style), arms folded, whistling, looking at the floor while all the time Moyes sat, sweaty hands on knees, looking like a rabbit watching the chef with a cleaver,” says William Hargreaves. “I have a feeling the baton will get quite hot this season.”
I’m not sure one Premier League Crisis Baton is enough for the English football media. Eighteen or nineteen sounds about right.
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22 min Defoe draws a save from Lloris with a snapshot from a tight angle. That came straight from a goalkick, with Defoe needing one touch to chest it down and another to get his shot in. Somewhere in England, a man called Charles Hughes is aroused.
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21 min A free-kick to Spurs, 25 yards from goal. It’s slightly to the left of the centre, and Dier sidefoots it well over the bar.
19 min Kane’s good pass to the edge of the area finds Son, whose shot has just appeared on air traffic control.
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18 min Sunderland have a rare attack, and then Cattermole plays it back to his goalkeeper from the halfway line.
15 min Kane is denied again by Pickford. He did well to wriggle away from Djilobodji and lash a bouncing ball towards goal from a few yards, but Pickford again blocked his shot. From the resulting corner, Alderweireld headed too close to the keeper. That was a chance.
13 min Wanyama’s long-range strike is well held by Pickford. Sunderland can’t get out of their third, never mind their half.
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11 min Tottenham have had an uber-Pep 81 per cent of the possession so far.
9 min Pickford makes a crucial save to keep the score at 0-0. Son, who has started really well on the left, curled a good cross to the near post that was first time by Kane in the six-yard box, and Pickford turned his shot round the post.
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7 min It’s all Spurs, as you’d expect. This is a much stronger-looking side Sunderland, however, with Kirchhoff and Cattermole giving the defence plenty of protection.
5 min “You know, if Sunderland lose, that Crisis Baton will have been passed four times in twenty-four hours: Bilic to Mourinho to Hughes to Moyes,” says Hubert O’Hearn. “That’s a hell of a four-man relay team (emphasis on the hell).”
4 min A fine early effort from Sissoko, who drills a low shot across goal and just wide of the far post.
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3 min Mike Dean misses an early opportunity to give a penalty when Son’s flick hits the hand of Kirchhoff on the edge of the box. It was the right decision.
2 min “You know, you’re right that Spurs generally start with a whimper, but I’m not sure this season totally qualifies,” says Peter Raleigh. “Usually our dropped early points are pretty humiliating, but draws against Everton and Liverpool are reasonable enough results at the best of times, and look rather good at the moment. Now, dropping points at home to Sunderland...THAT would be Spurs-y.”
I thought I was talking about Sunderland, though in truth I’m not sure what I think anymore.
1 min Spurs kick off from right to left.
There’s a late change for Sunderland, with Patrick van Aanholt replaced by Jason Denayer. The odd thing is that van Aanholt didn’t seem to realise he wasn’t playing. Very peculiar.
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The good news for Sunderland is that they won’t be bottom tonight, unless they lose 8-0.
Team news
Tottenham Hotspur (4-2-3-1) Lloris; Walker, Alderweireld, Dier, Vertonghen; Dembele, Wanyama; Sissoko, Alli, Son; Kane.
Substitutes: Vorm, Davies, Trippier, Eriksen, Lamela, Winks, Janssen.
Sunderland (4-1-4-1) Pickford,Denayer, Djilobodji, Kone, Manquillo; Kirchhoff; Januzaj, Ndong, Cattermole, Pienaar; Defoe.
Substitutes: Love, Khazri, Watmore, O’Shea, McNair, Gooch, Mika.
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Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of Spurs v Sunderland from White Hart Lane. You would expect a home win for Spurs against a team who have had their annual false start to the season, but this has already been a pretty strange Premier League campaign. Nobody knows anything - except the team news, which is just in.
Kick off is at 4.30pm.
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Rob will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s Louise Taylor on the situation David Moyes has found himself in:
David Moyes has heard the warnings. As Sunderland’s seventh manager in five turbulent years he knows all about the club’s reputation as a sort of Bermuda Triangle for his profession but the Scot remains determined to put things right on Wearside.
Doing so will involve solving an enduring puzzle. Predecessor after predecessor has made oblique references to “something being wrong” at the club. Gus Poyet was particularly vocal on the subject. After avoiding relegation last spring Sam Allardyce described Sunderland as his “most difficult” managerial posting, with off-field issues proving especially vexing.
So is something really wrong at the club? “Strangely it’s been mentioned,” said Moyes as he prepared for Sunday’s visit to Tottenham Hotspur still seeking his first Premier League win since taking charge in July.
“There is, there’s something – but I’m no closer to identifying it. The biggest thing I’m focusing on is trying to get the team right. Of course I can see other things which need to be improved or altered but I want to up the team’s levels. We need a win to get ourselves started.”
It is shortly after 9am on Friday and, although the thunder and lightning that woke the north-east in the early hours have abated, the sky remains ominously black as rain cascades down. Such weather pretty much matched Moyes’s mood on Monday night, when his side surrendered 3-0 at home to his former club Everton. It seemed to serve as confirmation that, as predicted, Sunderland were set for a fifth successive relegation dalliance. “I almost always sleep well,” says the former Manchester United and Real Sociedad manager. “But Monday was a bad night.” ...
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