Paul Wilson's match report
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Here’s Harry Kane, who has now scored 150 Premier League goals
“The goals always feel better when you win and that was a tough game. We played a lot better in the second half but they were defending for their lives, as we knew they would. It was just about getting that breakthrough and thankfully I got a little header in there. We’re delighted with the three points. There’s a lot of big games to come after the international break but we’re happy to be top of the league. So far, so good.”
Full time: West Brom 0-1 Tottenham
Peep peep! Harry Kane’s late goal takes Spurs top of the Premier League, at least for the next couple of hours. It was an extremely hard-fought victory against a determined West Brom side who probably deserved a draw. They should take encouragement from this performance, even though they stay in the relegation zone. Spurs have loftier ambitions - since their opening-weekend defeat they have won five and drawn two in the league.
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90+2 min Diangana’s low cross is cleared by Reguilon at the far post. Phillips was waiting behind him to equalise.
90 min Kyle Edwards has come on for Jake Livermore. There will be five added minutes.
90 min Spurs are going top of the Premier League.
That’s so cruel on West Brom. Doherty, in a deep position on the right, floated a cross towards the six-yard line. Johnstone stayed on his line, a decision he’ll surely regret, and Kane nipped in to steer a deft header into the net. That’s a deceptively brilliant finish.
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GOAL! West Brom 0-1 Tottenham (Kane 88)
Harry Kane has nicked it for Spurs!
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87 min A couple of corners for West Brom, who haven’t given up hope of a surprise victory. They have worked so hard today.
84 min Matt Phillips replaces Grant for West Brom.
83 min: Fine save from Johnstone! That’s the best save of the match. Reguilon angled a sharp low cross to Vinicius on the edge of the area. He whistled a left-footed drive on the turn that was going into the bottom corner until Johnstone plunged to his right to push it away. That’s a terrific stop - not just the reflexes and agility but also the strength of wrist to ensure it didn’t go through him and into the net.
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82 min Son’s near-post corner is flicked towards goal by the head of Alderweireld. It’s straight at Johnstone, though, and he makes a comfortable save.
80 min A ferocious long-range shot from Kane hits Bartley. It’s all Spurs now.
78 min A double change for Spurs: Lucas Moura and Carlos Vinicius replace Sissoko and the disappointing Bale. He doesn’t look match-fit just yet.
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77 min Lo Celso’s corner is headed away by Bartley. West Brom will be shattered if they lose this because they’ve defended so well.
74 min Kane’s free-kick hits the man standing behind the wall, and he drags the rebound wide.
74 min Lo Celso is fouled on the edge of the area by Ajayi. The free-kick is to the left of centre, and Kane looks very interested.
71 min: Good save from Lloris! Krovinovic belts an excellent corner towards the far post, where Furlong flicks a header towards the far post. Lloris reacts smartly to push the ball away, and then Grant volleys the rebound wide. That was a decent chance for Grant.
69 min: Gallagher hits the outside of the post! That was a lovely effort. He received the ball 30 yards from goal, moved away from Sissoko and hit a surprise shot that clipped the outside of the left post. Lloris didn’t move.
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69 min “Afternoon Rob,” says Michal. “With City looking unremarkable, Liverpool playing without their most important player, is this season the best chance since Leicester ‘16 for an underdog, like United, Wolves or Spurs, to win the title? Despite their poor recent form OGS’s team will be only three points behind the leaders should they win their game in hand. I reckon there are more twists and turns in this year’s title race.”
Personally I think Liverpool will win it at a canter again. They’ve already come from behind to win three league games, which suggests they are still the mentality monsters of 2019-20. The early season unpredictability has been great fun, though. It used to be like that every season.
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68 min Grady Diangana replaces Callum Robinson for West Ham.
67 min: Lo Celso misses a sitter! Spurs really should be ahead. Kane pulled the ball back from the left towards Reguilon, whose first-time shot was blocked by Bartley in the six-yard box. It rebounded straight to Lo Celso, who belted it well wide from eight yards. He was backpedalling slightly but should still have scored.
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65 min “If building Spurs up as title challengers leads to this performance,” says Ian Copestake, “could you please write Liverpool off as ponderous hasbeens this afternoon.”
I’ve already pencilled them in for 12 consecutive titles.
64 min Ndombele limps off to be replaced by Giovani Lo Celso.
63 min This is much better from Spurs. Kane drops deep and angles a pass to Son in the inside-left channel. He scoots away from Bartley and hits a low drive that is comfortably saved by Johnstone.
62 min Ndombele is limping heavily but he wants to continue. It looks like Bartley accidentally stood on the toes of his left foot.
61 min Ndombele went over in the build-up to that Kane chance and has stayed down. It looked innocuous enough, with Bartley running into him from behind, but Ndombele looks in a lot of pain.
60 min Kane picks up a loose ball on the edge of the area, moves forward and hits a low drive that is crucially blocked by O’Shea.
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59 min Reguilon’s awkward, wobbling long-range strike goes straight at Johnstone, who takes no chances and punches it away.
58 min Doherty pings a flat cross towards Bale, whose stooping header is blocked by Livermore. The pressure is mounting.
57 min Spurs are getting increasingly frustrated. They’ve been crap today, frankly, though you’d still expect them to find a winner given their attacking quality.
55 min “Ha, I need to keep up (49th minute),” says Simon McMahon. “News travels slow here, somebody mentioned a new coronavirus to watch out for ...”
Wait until you hear about Bobby Ewing’s shower.
55 min Bale’s deep, inswinging free-kick is headed over by Kane. He was under a lot of pressure, and was falling backwards, so it wasn’t really a chance.
52 min Bale is flattened by O’Shea, who hurts himself in the process. West Brom’s tackling today has been zestful, though Jose Mourinho might choose a different word.
51 min “Bob,” says Mac Millings, “I’ve been out of the country for a long time, so maybe everyone knows this, but I had no idea until looking at his picture just now that Gareth Bale was every member of Supergrass.”
50 min Excellent play for Kane, who turns Bartley on the right and lobs a cross towards Bale at the far post. He slides onto the ball but can only poke it well wide; it was a half chance at best.
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49 min “Afternoon Rob,” says Simon McMahon. “If Spurs do win and go top, I’m fully expecting Mourinho to immediately tweet ‘STOP THE LEAGUE’ and declare himself and his team champions. And even if Spurs don’t win the league this season, I’m looking forward to his speech declaring them the winners anyway, if you only count ‘legal’ goals.”
That is so Friday night.
STOP THE COUNT pic.twitter.com/rS94knWEhO
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) November 6, 2020
48 min Kane slaps a 20-yard shot that is bloked by Ajayi.
47 min Krovinovic’s outswinging corner is headed a few yards wide by O’Shea. That was a decent chance because he got between two defenders and had a clear jump at the ball.
46 min Peep peep! West Brom begin the second half. No changes on either side.
“Spurs look organised and disciplined, but slow,” says Ron Stack. “Could their schedule be catching up to them?”
I just think it’s been a sluggish performance, and also that West Brom haven’t given Son any space to run into. Spurs could easily snap out of it – they were hopeless at Southampton for 40 minutes and ended up winning 5-2. I bet Jose Mourinho is giving them a brollocking as we speak.
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Half-time reading
Half time: West Bromwich Albion 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur
Peep peep! So far so good for West Brom, who have frustrated Spurs with a disciplined and vigorous defensive performance. Son missed a great chance at one end, Eric Dier headed off the line at the other. The second half will surely be more eventful.
44 min Bartley is booked for taking a shortcut through the back of Harry Kane.
43 min “Not a Spurs fan but admire the remarkable consistency of Son and Kane,” says Niall O’Keeffe. “Both in the top 10 in the EPL in my opinion. Fancy Jose to guide them to the Premiership this season.”
I think that will be beyond them, even if Son and Kane stay fit, but they do have an outside chance. And I think they’ll win one of the cups.
42 min This is a decent spell of pressure for Spurs, probably their best of the half.
40 min Ndombele’s excellent cross from the right is cleared by Bartley at the near post. Kane went down under challenge from Livermore, but I don’t think there was anything in it.
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38 min A few of the Spurs players, and Jose Mourinho, are unhappy with West Brom’s physicality. Reguilon goes down holding his face after an aerial challenge with Furlong. The referee saw nothing wrong.
38 min “Hey Rob,” says J.R. in Illinois. “It’s all happening this weekend, eh?. It started badly Friday with the crushing blow of Ireland getting knocked out of the World Cup (of Darts). Then we had a Saturday that is the beginning of the end of a very long four years (don’t get me wrong though, we’re still in deep doo doo), And today my Baggies get a chance to ruin the dastardly Jose Mourinho’s day. What a time to be alive.”
37 min Johnstone comes for the corner and doesn’t get there, but he gets away with it.
36 min Ndombele plays a return pass to Reguilon, who hares towards the area and is very well tackled by Ajayi. Corner to Spurs on the left...
35 min Gareth Bale has been very quiet, although you could say the same about Kane and Son. West Brom could do with scoring now while they are on top, because the second half surely won’t be as comfortable.
34 min After nice play from Robinson, who has been excellent, Livermore sprays a drive over the bar from 25 yards.
33 min West Brom are the better team at the moment; on the touchline, Jose Mourinho has the face on.
30 min Krovinovic’s deep free-kick is headed over the bar by Bartley. He was trying to nod it back towards the far post but got too much on the ball.
28 min Spurs have been poor so far. West Brom are squeezing the game very effectively.
26 min: Fine defending from Dier! Robinson breaks into space down the left, reaching the byline before flipping a lovely cross over Lloris. Grant, at the far post, is about to head the ball into the net from a yard when Dier leaps to flick it away.
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24 min Slaven Bilic will be pretty happy with how the match has gone so far. Spurs have been a bit sluggish and have only created that one clear chance for Son.
22 min Kane’s lofted pass is just too heavy for Reguilon, who would have been through on goal.
20 min Ndombele is fouled just outside the D by Gallagher, but the referee waves play on. Jose Mourinho is not thrilled.
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20 min This is a good spell for West Brom, who look sprightly on the counter-attack. Furlong breaks into the area and is well tackled by Reguilon.
18 min: Good chance for West Brom! Furlong’s terrific cross from the right is headed well wide by the stretching Grant. I think he mistimed his jump; either way the ball skimmed off his head and went out for a throw-in.
17 min Bale concedes a corner on the West Brom left. Krovinovic’s corner leads to another, this time on the right. Hojbjerg heads it away.
13 min Robinson cuts the ball towards Gallagher, whose shot is blocked by Reguilon. Spurs break dangerously and 10 seconds later Son misses a great chance. Kane and Ndombele combined neatly to find him in a criminal amount of space 10 yards from goal. Son almost had too much time - he waited an age before hitting a left-footed shot that was blocked by Ajayi.
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10 min West Brom are working really hard defensively, and so far have kept Spurs at arm’s length. It hasn’t been the greatest start to the game.
7 min Doherty’s low cross is put behind by Townsend for the first corner of the match. Son’s delivery is poor and Gallagher heads clear.
5 min Lots of early possession for Spurs, as you’d expect. So far it has all been in front of the West Brom defence.
2 min Lloris makes a comfortable save from Robinson’s low drive.
1 min Peep peep! After both sets of players stand for a Remembrance Sunday tribute, Spurs get the game underway. They’re wearing their yellow change strip; West Brom are in blue and white.
West Brom are looking for their first win in the league this season. They’ve played well enough in some games, especially the 3-3 draw with Chelsea, but they were dismal in the 2-0 defeat at Fulham on Monday.
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Pre-match reading
Team news
West Brom are without Matheus Pereira and Branislav Ivanovic, who have both tested positive for Covid-19, while Grady Diangana has been dropped to the bench. Gareth Bale, who scored the winner against Brighton last weekend, starts his first Premier League game since returning to Spurs.
West Brom (3-5-2) Johnstone; Bartley, O’Shea, Ajayi; Furlong, Gallagher Livermore, Krovinovic, Townsend; Grant, Robinson.
Substitutes: Button, Gibbs, Peltier, Phillips, Diangana, Sawyers, Edwards.
Tottenham Hotspur (4-2-3-1) Lloris; Doherty, Alderweireld, Dier, Reguilon; Sissoko, Hojbjerg; Bale, Ndombele, Son; Kane.
Substitutes: Hart, Rodon, Aurier, Davies, Lo Celso, Lucas Moura, Vinicius.
Referee Andy Madley.
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Preamble
Morning. Jose Mourinho’s second home used to be 1 Premier League. He spent most of his time there, looking down at the unspecial ones going about their mundane business. In the last few years, he has become one of them. Since winning the title with Chelsea in 2014-15, Mourinho has only been top of the Premier League for a few weeks, at the start of his first two seasons with Manchester United. But if Spurs win at struggling West Brom today, he will return to his old residence.
It might only be for a few hours, but it would support the growing feeling that Spurs could make a surprise title challenge this season. They need Harry Kane and Son Heung-min to stay fit and maintain their spectacular form, but a Spurs challenge is much more conceivable than when they started the season with that dismal defeat at home to Everton.
Let’s be honest, most of us thought Mourinho’s days of challenging for the biggest trophies were over. If he does win the Premier League for the fourth time, there will be quite an acceptance speech.
Kick off 12pm.
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