Signing off
Last year Stoke did the double over Spurs for the first time in their history. They remain a thorn in the North London club’s side today with a smash-and-grab draw that at one point looked like an easy three points. That’s all for now. Thanks for following along with us!
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Full-time: Tottenham 2-2 Stoke City
The boos are cascading from the stands at White Hart Lane as the final whistle sounds with the hosts having come from two goals ahead a quarter-hour from time to a 2-2 draw.
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90 min+3: It’s Tottenham who have kept possession for most of stoppage time, even nearly creating a chance when Eriksen’s flirted with a shot on the edge of the area, but it’s been all hands on deck for Stoke. They’ve tightened their defenses and seem to be content to take the point and be happy with it.
90 min: Charlie Adam on for Marko Arnautovic. There will be four minutes of stoppage time.
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89 min: Some extracurriculars between a few Stoke players and Tottenham’s Kyle Walker, but the players are separated and the referee’s intervention ends without a booking. No doubt a benefit to Spurs, given Walker is already on a yellow.
Looks like it started when Pieters pushed Walker a bit off the play. Walker turned back and the two got into a shoving match.
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88 min: Now it’s Diouf running rampant up the right flank, ultimately sending a low cross into the area that’s intercepted by a Tottenham defender and sent out for a Stoke corner.
87 min: And Stoke nearly had their go-ahead goal right there! Ball played to Arnautovic on the end of the box, who pauses momentarily before chipping a cross to Ireland, who can’t quite head it on target.
86 min: Does this fortune cookie of a match have any twists and turns left in store? Seems it could go either way at the moment. Right now it’s Tottenham in attack, but Stoke look inspired and ready to counter if given the chance.
GOAL! Tottenham 2-2 Stoke City (Diouf, 83 min)
Wow! Stephen Ireland’s beautiful entry pass from the left flank manages to find the head of the onrushing Diouf, who’d been cruelly denied twice previously by Lloris today. Third time lucky for the Senegalese striker and Stoke have equalized against the run of play.
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81 mins: Spurs probing with a series of short passes around the perimeter of the Stoke area, but they’re dispossessed and Stoke is quick to counter. Long run by Arnautovic ends with a won corner for the visitors.
GOAL! Tottenham 2-1 Stoke City (Arnautovic, 78 min)
Arnautovic calmly takes three steps and pounds the ball left of Lloris into the back of the net. They’ve cut the deficit in half with roughly a quarter-hour to go.
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77 min: Stoke City win a penalty! A nice ball into the box to Joselu, who draws a foul from Toby Alderweireld near the goal line.
73 min: Stoke’s Marc Muniesa shown yellow for a foul. Free kick from distance is harmlessly cleared.
71 min: Charles from New Mexico asks why Kane went of after an hour. He appears to be on the bench icing his calf, which may have been giving him some problems.
70 min: What a quick strike by Spurs, with Dembele putting a shot on goal. Butland is there to repel it away but it’s out for a corner.
69 min: A second sub for Spurs: Bentaleb on for Mason.
68 min: Lamela whistled for a foul to give Stoke a free kick from a dangerous area on the left side of the area. Arnautovic and Pieters over the ball. It’s Arnautovic who takes it and ... misfires badly. It’s out for a goal kick.
66 min: The pace has slowed here for a spot and the sides trade possession in midfield.
63 min: Now it’s Tottenham making a move: Lamela on for Kane, who’s done after an hour.
62 min: What a save by Lloris, who denies Diouf for the second time today. A wonderful delivery by Ireland who finds the Senegalese for a header as he darts to the net.
Lloris op? It was right at him tbf pic.twitter.com/QZDtiMEfcl
— Eden Hazard (@DatHazard) August 15, 2015
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61 min: Stoke persisting in the final third. Finally it’s Arnautovic who takes two dribbles from the edge of the area and delivers a right-footed shot to the near post. Saved.
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59 min: Two substitutions for Stoke as the hour mark looms: Joselu and Ireland on for Van Ginkel and Walters.
57 min: Stoke putting up more of a fight here, subverting the long stretches of Tottenham possession that characterized the first half and even generating a few chances of their own, but Spurs are clearly the side with better class and quality of ideas.
54 min: Pieters crosses in from the left side for Stoke, but Walters’s header misses wide right.
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52 min: Harry Kane very nearly opens his account for the season, but is thwarted by an acrobatic save! A wonderfully played ball from Chadli into an onrushing Kane, whose volleys demands a world class effort from Butland!
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50 min: It’s Ericksen on a marauding run up the left flank, but he can’t quick figure out the right ball into the area and the attack comes and goes without a clear scoring chance.
49 min: The ball is deflected away but back to Stoke, who probe momentarily before getting dispossessed while Spurs seamlessly move into counter-attack.
48 min: Davies sees yellow after hacking down Walters to give Stoke a set piece from about 30 yards. Everyone back for Spurs.
47 min: Some sloppy passing by Tottenham in the middle of the park and they’re dispossessed. Stoke quickly moves it up to Arnautovic, but it’s intercepted at the last second.
46 min: Welcome back. We’re off and running in the second half pretty much where we left off in the first: with Tottenham keeping the ball and building up their attack patiently from the defensive half.
Half-time: Tottenham 2-0 Stoke City
Here’s a look at Chadli’s goal that doubled Tottenham’s lead deep in first-half stoppage time. Spurs are deservedly on top as Stoke have been mostly dreadful. More to come from White Hart Lane.
GOAL! Tottenham 2-0 Stoke City (Chadli, 45 min+2)
And Tottenham double down! It’s Kane once again from a deep-lying role with a long pass into the area to Davies, whose cross is volleyed into the net by the onrushing Chadli for a 2-0 advantage on what’s surely will be the final kick of the half.
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45 min+1: A picture-perfect long ball from Kane to Mason, who plays it beautifully to his feet using his hip and very nearly makes it 2-0. A hair-trigger save there.
45 min: The fourth official calls for two minutes of stoppage time.
44 min: Some inspiration here from Stoke late. Ball is played to Walters in the area, who heads it to Diouf, who in turn heads it sharply on goal – but directly into the waiting hands of Lloris. How close the visitors were to an equaliser just there.
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42 min: Best chance of the day for Stoke so far as Walters’s left-footed shot misses the mark. A dismal day for Stoke so far, but they’ll try to get to half-time down 1-0 and re-assess.
40 min: Kyle Walker wins a free kick in the defensive half after a foul by Arnautovic. Moments later Kane is hacked down by Pieters. Nothing comes from either set piece.
37 min: Stoke have won a corner but play it short and are immediately flagged offside. It’s been that kind of afternoon for the visitors.
36 min: What a ball from from Eriksen! Forty yards down the park to the foot of Chadli, who frustratingly can’t put it on goal before running out.
34 min: Stoke can’t seem to sustain anything in attack. This most recent sequence was particularly rudderless and indecisive, not even coming close to generating a chance. Now it’s Tottenham, deservedly ahead, moving downfield again.
32 min: Ball through to Harry Kane. Flag goes up straight away but he pounds it into the back of the net anyway, prompting roars from the crowd. Alas.
31 mins: Spurs on the attack, Chadli to Davis to Kane in full stride, but the offside flag goes up. Would feel quite good about this if I were a Tottenham fan through a half hour.
29 min: Eriksen with possession the final third and desperately looking to send Kane through, but the players appear to have got their wires crossed: the pass zigs as Kane zags.
27 min: More methodical ball-keeping from Tottenham, who are moving it beautifully. Here’s another look at Dier’s goal.
24 min: The free kick is off target as Lloris watches it sale wide. Now it’s Spurs moving up the pitch again. Cian O’Mahony via email points out that Dier has now scored Tottenham’s first Premier League goal of the year in consecutive seasons.
23 min: A yellow card to Tottenham’s Kyle Walker, a deserved booking after the defender got a bit handsy with Arnautovic. A free-kick opportunity for Stoke on the left side about 30 yards from goal.
21 min: Tottenham’s first goal of the season has the White Hart Lane crowd in full throat ... and at the moment they’re on the attack in search of another.
GOAL! Tottenham 1-0 Stoke City (Dier, 19 min)
It’s Eriksen over the ball again, but this time his corner finds the head of the perfectly positioned Eric Dier, who climbs the ladder and heads it past Butland into the goal.
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18 min: Mason with a shot on goal from outside the area, but it’s deflected off a defender and sails out. Corner to Tottenham, their third of the match.
17 min: The ball is given away by Davies in the midfield and Stoke have the ball and look to keep it for at least a few passes. Tottenham really pressing though and before long it’s Spurs on the offensive again.
15 min: Flag goes up as Walters is offside. Bit of a listless quarter-hour to be fair. Hardly a touch for Kane so far.
12 min: Two saves on the sequence in fact: the first on a shot by Diouf, then a follow up off the right foot of Marco Van Ginkel.
11 min: A terrible blunder by Lloris in the back and he inexplicably passes straight to Diouf. Only with Mason’s last-gasp intervention are they able to stave off a Stoke goal.
Meanwhile Ian Copestake checks in via email regarding the pre-match music selection:
The use of “fates” in the plural in John Williams’s score troubles me and perhaps points to a rottenness at the heart of the now unending Lucas saga. Whether it be the Moirai in Greek mythology, the Parcae in Roman mythology, or the Norms in Norse mythology, “fate” is a committee based decision of the Divine order that determines human events. It doesn’t come in plural, just like Lucas’s saga should not have gone beyond three.
10 min: Davies surges up the left flank and dumps – a shot? a cross? – into the vague direction of the goal. Whatever it was, it sailed high and long of the mark and out for a goal kick.
8 min: Eriksen’s free-kick attempt is knocked away, but it’s out for another Tottenham corner. Eriksen takes it again but it caroms away from the goal and Stoke look to counter. Not successfully, I might add: within seconds Spurs have wrested back possession and are methodically walking it up the pitch again.
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7 min: Eriksen takes the corner and it’s cleared harmlessly. But moments later Dyer is ripped down right outside the area – Glenn Whelan sees yellow – and Spurs will have a golden set-piece opportunity dead center just on the edge of the box.
6 min: Spurs working it up the right flank and into the center with a series of short passes before the ball drops to Christian Eriksen, who dribbles into the box and uncorks a left-footed shot to the near post that’s knocked away but Butland. Corner kick.
4 min: Stoke have hardly touched the ball so far as Spurs have done well to keep possession, though they’ve hardly threatened.
3 min: Spurs keeping possession with short passing among the back four and center halves. A longball forward to Harry Kane is thwarted but they’ve retained possession again in the middle third. A ponderous start thus far.
1 min: And we’re under way! Tottenham attacking from right to left and they’ve already won a free kick from a dangerous position on the right flank.
Background music
Playing on the stadium p.a. as the teams walked on the pitch: John Williams’s Duel of the Fates from the Star Wars prequels. At least they’re not being melodramatic.
Preamble
Welcome to White Hart Lane for today’s match between Spurs and Stoke, two sides that lost their opening-day matches and will be desperate to even their ledgers. The teams are emerging from the tunnel right now and we’ll be underway shortly.
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And the subs:
Spurs: Vorm, Rose, Trippier, Alli, Bentaleb, Carroll, Lamela
Stoke: Given, Ireland, Joselu, Adam, Sidwell, Crouch, Wollscheid.
Your cast of gentlemen and players for the day is as follows:
Tottenham: Lloris; Walker, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Davies; Dier, Mason; Chadli, Dembele, Eriksen; Kane.
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Stoke: Butland; Johnson, Cameron, Muniesa, Pieters; Whelan (c), van Ginkel; Walters, Afellay, Arnautovic; Diouf.
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