FULL TIME: Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Swansea City
And Spurs have the three points. A huge result after Arsenal’s defeat to Man Utd. You can read about that match here.
Updated
90 min +4: Onomah has a chance to put the result beyond doubt but flashes his shot wide.
90 min+3: Walker is booked for time wasting.
90 min +2: Swansea don’t look to panicked: they play the ball out from the back as they search for an equaliser. Not that it does them much good, and Spurs come away with the ball before winning a throw in, which they take their time over.
90 min: Spurs clear the corner. There will be five minutes of added time.
89 min: Ayew is bundled to the ground, a pretty pointless foul as he wasn’t going anywhere. But Sigurdsson has the free-kick, which is deflected for a corner.
88 min: Mason’s shot flashes wide of Fabianski’s far post. Swansea sub in Barrow for Paloschi. Interesting decision as Paloschi has been Swansea’s most dangerous player.
86 min: The story of the day: Spurs have had 32 attempts on goal to Swansea’s nine.
84 min: Kane jogs off and Onomah comes on as Spurs’ final sub for the day.
83 min: Eriksen has plenty of time to find Kane in the area but his underhit pass is cleared. Ki is replaced by Gomis.
81 min: Arsenal are still losing at Old Trafford. This weekend could end up being very significant in the title race after Leicester’s late winner yesterday.
79 min: Spurs think they have a third when Walker taps home Kane’s cross but he was marginally offside.
GOAL! Tottenham 2-1 Swansea (Rose 76)
Rose from distance. Tottenham had failed to beat Swansea from distance today but you think somebody would have thought to look out for Rose on the edge of the area. A corner finds itself the way to his feet and his low shot squirms under the unsighted Fabianski.
Updated
75 min: Son scampers into space and pulls the ball back but Walker’s shot goes wide. Son is then subbed off for Mason. For Swansea, Britton is replaced by Fer.
73 min: Swansea amble into the Spurs half for the first time in a long time. Spurs counter-attack - and have men in numbers - but Eriksen can’t quite find Kane and the visitors clear. Eriksen then crashes a shot in from 35 yards out and Fabianski pulls off another great save. Apart from the flapping incident, he has been brilliant.
GOAL! Tottenham 1-1 Swansea (Chadli 69)
Rose again! This time from 35 yards out but Fabianski tips over for a corner. And then he crumbles: flapping at the cross, which eventually falls to Chadli who drives the ball home from 10 yards out.
68 min: A corner for Tottenham, and they’ve dominated possession and territory this half - Lloris hasn’t been seen for a while. But they’re still taking their shots from distance and Rose’s attempt is deflected wide.
65 min: Dier drives the ball wide of Fabianski’s goal - and Spurs have started to resort to long shots over the last 15 minutes or so. A sign of frustration perhaps at Fabianski’s excellent saves from close range.
62 min: Lamela is subbed off for Chadli.
59 min: Rose gets someone else booked this time. Ayew brings the Spurs man down as he surges towards the box. And Eriksen has his 56th free-kick of the afternoon ... and it’s his best one so far. It’s inches wide of Fabianski’s far post and had the keeper well beaten.
57 min: Rose is booked for a hack at some Swansea legs. Although those legs end up making contact with Rose’s face. So he gets a yellow card and a smack to the chops.
55 min: Fabianski saves from Kane this time. The striker is in a bit of space and tries his luck from distance. The shot was probably going wide anyway, but Fabianski doesn’t take any risks and claws the ball away.
52 min: Walker has been a threat down the flank today but he gifts Swansea possession and the visitors relieve the pressure for the first time in the second half. Spurs are soon back though, and Eriksen has a free-kick. It’s Fabianski to the rescue again - he scampers across to save at the near post after a dipping free-kick from Eriksen.
51 min: Dele Alli spins and shoots in the area after some nice play from Walker and Eriksen but it’s not quite enough to cause Fabianski any problems.
49 min: Williams got in between Fabianski and Lamela during Spurs’ last chance and he looks a little groggy. As you would be if you’d just been smashed about the head after running around at full pelt for 45 minutes.
46 min: Spurs get things underway with a little foray into the Swansea half but they don’t look too hurried – until Rose latches on to an Eriksen ball and Fabianski has to react quickly to punch the ball away.
It’s not all terrible news for Tottenham, of course. Arsenal are losing to Manchester United at Old Trafford. You can follow the game with Nick Ames here.
Half time: And that’s it for the first 45 minutes. Swansea grabbed the early goal and have withstood some intense pressure from Spurs, through a combination of poor final balls from Tottenham and a few great saves from Fabianski. Swansea, it should be said, could have grabbed a second goal near the end of the half.
45 min +1: Rose plays the ball into Dier, whose point-blank shot is brilliantly saved from Fabianski. Not only does he get to the ball in the first place, he shows tremendous strength to palm it away. Kane can’t quite connect with the loose ball.
45 min: Two minutes of added time.
44 min: Eriksen is 400 feet away from finding Walker with a pinpoint pass into the area.
43 min: Paloschi is booked for a wonderfully unsubtle shirt pull. He does not protest.
41 min: I’m still not sure whether Spurs should be winning this game 3-1 or losing it 2-0. Maybe both.
39 min: Paloschi nearly gets his second after Rangel gets free on the right and pings in a cross. The Italian’s shot is blocked by a defender’s legs though and Spurs fight on.
36 min: Britton gives the ball away to Eriksen, who surges through the Swansea midfield, but he can’t deliver the final ball. Swansea finally relieve the pressure and win a free-kick around 40 yards out. Sigurdsson will take ... he goes for glory but gets a fair amount of derision from the Spurs crowd as his ball travels towards Saturn.
33 min: PENALT... no. Dele Alli skips into the box, and tumbles under some pressure. The ref waves play on though. A minute later Kane has a one-on-one-ish but Fabianski rushes out and saves. It’s been a while since Swansea got our of their own half. Or even their own area.
31 min: Eriksen has another free-kick after Alli is bundled over. He’s about 25 yards out and curls the ball to Fabianski’s right. The placement is great but it doesn’t quite have the pace to beat the keeper, who palms the ball away.
28 min: Kane just misses out on a goal. Walker’s cross shot rakes across the six-yard box and Kane is inches away from diverting the ball into the net. Pressure building from Spurs. Williams is booked.
25 min: Cork and Dier tangle - and Spurs come away with a free-kick around 35 yards out. It’s Dier who ends up getting on the end of the set-piece too but his header isn’t quite as good as the leap that preceded it and Swansea survive.
23 min: Spurs have had some good chances but that Swansea goal didn’t come from nowhere, and the Welshmen could easily have been up 2-0. Eriksen fires in an apology of a free-kick that goes very wide.
21 min: Spurs react quickly and launch an attack. Son skips into the box but his low ball fails to find a team-mate.
GOAL! Tottenham 0-1 Swansea (Paloschi 19)
More pressure from Swansea. Ayew wins a corner after a nice ball from Rangel. Sigurdsson plays the corner out to Rangel, who taps it to Britton. His shot deflects into the path of an unmarked Paloschi, who slots past a wrong footed Lloris.
18 min: Swansea have had the majority of possession for the last few minutes after those chances for Kane and Lamela. It gives Taylor enough confidence to run at the Spurs defence but he’s tackled and Tottenham clear.
15 min: Swansea win a free-kick around 40 yards out on the left. It’s swung in by Sigurdsson and Rose and Ayew both go for it. Ayew gets a touch but the ball slumps wide for a goal kick.
12 min: Williams has to react quickly to scoot over and clear a dangerous ball into the box but it’s not long before Spurs are on the attack again. Eriksen slides the ball into Kane, who shoots on the turn. Fabianski does well to save at the near post. And talking of the near post, Kane’s momentum takes him into it. Luckily he has that mask to protect his face.
9 min: Swansea recover from all the excitement of (nearly) scoring and then (nearly) conceding with a few passes in midfield to settle things down. But Sigurdsson soon loses track of Walker who rushes into the area and sees his shot blocked.
6 min: Tottenham’s turn to attack. Kane is free down the right and wins a corner off a cross but Paloschi clears. Lamela then has an excellent chance to put Spurs 1-0 up after a lovely ball in from Rose but he shoots over.
3 min: Spurs plat it around their own area for a while - which perhaps shows how much they fear the Swansea attack – before they clear. And then Swansea nearly score! Lloris pulls off a brilliant close-range from Fernandez. Spurs clear the corner.
1 min: And we’re off. “Harry Kane’s nose? Linsey Vonn’s knee?” thunders Vijay Shah. I’m sensing some kind of heroic comeback from injury here. “I currently have a broken leg but I’m still typing this.” What Vijay is too modest to tell you is that he typed that message with his leg.
The teams are out. It’s a glorious, sunny and [quick Google] cold day in north London. We’re five minutes away from kick-off because the Premier League is too awkward to ho for a 2pm start. We get the first look of Kane in his facemask to protect his nose. I can report that it’s clear, it’s a mask and it’s on his face.
Harry Kane starts for Spurs despite his broken nose. Although it’s arguable how important the nose is in football, apart from coming in handy on a mistimed header or giving centre-backs a bit of authority when they’re broken. It’s certainly not as important as, say, a knee to a skiier. And Lindsey Vonn won a Super G event with a fractured knee this weekend. Her knee:
Now, we all know that the past is meaningless in football and it’s 110% important to take each game as it comes and just concentrate on giving it your best and hopefully we’ll get the three point. But, history suggests Swansea may be in for a tricky time today:
0.22 - Swansea have won just 0.22 points per game on average in the Premier League vs Spurs; fewer than against any other opponent. Fear.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 28, 2016
That and the fact that Spurs have won their last five league games.
And Swansea’s line up is here:
#Swans subs v @SpursOfficial: Nordfeldt, Naughton, Amat, Fer, Routledge, Barrow, Gomis.
— Swansea City AFC (@SwansOfficial) February 28, 2016
Good day all. And welcome to the game they’re all calling “that one that isn’t as important as the Man U-Arsenal one on at the same time”. But this one is arguably more important, with Spurs representing Leicester’s closest rivals at the top of the table, and Swansea fighting off the slow siren song of the relegation zone.
But you’ll be wanting some team news, won’t you? Well, here are Spurs:
Subs: Vorm, Davies, Trippier, Bentaleb, Chadli, Mason, Onomah. #COYS
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) February 28, 2016
Tom will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s David Hytner’s match preview:
Francesco Guidolin has been under the weather during the week and it is tempting, although incorrect, to link the Swansea City manager’s queasiness to this fixture. Tottenham slipped up last weekend in the FA Cup against Crystal Palace but they are in a rare grove while Swansea have found goals hard to come by and they remain perched above the relegation places. Under Guidolin, they have stabilised but title-chasing Tottenham are determined to make no mistakes.
Kick-off Sunday 2.05pm
Venue White Hart Lane
Last season Tottenham 3 Swansea City 2
Referee M Jones
This season G18, Y60, R1, 3.39 cards per game
Odds H 1-2 A 8-1 D 18-5
Tottenham Hotspur
Subs from Vorm, McGee, Trippier, Davies, Carter-Vickers, Winks, Carroll, Onomah, Bentaleb, Son, Chadli
Doubtful Carroll (ankle), Kane (broken nose)
Injured Dembélé (groin, 5 Mar), Vertonghen (knee, Mar), Njie (knee, Apr)
Suspended None
Form LWWWWW
Discipline Y50 R0
Leading scorer Kane 16
Swansea City
Subs from Nordfeldt, Amat, Gomis, Fer, Montero, Bartley, Naughton, Barrow, Emnes, Grimes, Kingsley, Ki
Doubtful None
Injured None
Suspended None
Form LWWDDL
Discipline Y38 R1
Leading scorer Ayew 8
