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OPPONENTS Huddersfield Town at John Smith's Stadium
COMPETITION Premier League 
DATE Saturday 29th September 2018
PREVIEW No preview compiled
 
PREDICTION Huddersfield Town    0        Tottenham Hotspur    2
 
 
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Premier League Kick off 15:00
 
Huddersfield Town  0 (0)  
 
Tottenham Hotspur  2 (2)
 
 
Goal-scorers

None



Kane 25m
Kane 34m
 
Crowd :   23,885 Weather :  Sunny, warm
Referee :  Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire) Assistant Referees :  Mr. Ian Hussin; Mr. Andy Halliday
Fourth Official :  Peter Durkes  
Huddersfield Town kicked off and played towards the Chadwick Lawrence stand end in the first half.
Game time : -  90 + 8 minutes.
 
Cards  
    
Jorgensen (foul on Kane)  44 
Billing  (foul on Son)  86

    

    
Rose (foul on Hadergjonaj)  67
Winks  (foul on Hadergjonaj)  81

    
 

 
 
 
Huddersfield Town : kit Tottenham Hotspur : kit
  1  Jonas LOSSL

25  Mathias JORGENSEN      
26  Christopher SCHINDLER  (18  Isaac MBENZA  71)
  5  Terence KONGOLO  (33  Florent HADERGJONAJ  29)

37  Erik DURM
10
  Aaron MOOY
  6  Jonathan HOGG (c)
  8
  PHILIP BILLING     
15  Chris LOWE

21  Alex PRITCHARD  (24  Steven MOUNIE  84)

20  Laurent LEPOITRE

Unused subs: 
12  Ben HAMER
  2  Tommy SMITH
27  Jon Gorenc STANKOVIC
17
  Rajiv van La PARRA
 

  22  Paulo GAZZANIGA

  6  Davinson SANCHEZ
  5  Jan VERTONGHEN  (12  Victor WANYAMA  46)
 
4 
Toby ALDERWEIRELD

  2  Kieran TRIPPIER
15 
Eric DIER
19  Mousa DEMBELE  (  8  Harry WINKS  46     )
  3  Danny ROSE     

  7  Heung-Min SON  (17  Moussa SISSOKO)
27  Lucas MOURA

10  Harry KANE (c)    (p)

Unused subs: 
41 
Alfie WHITEMAN
33  Ben DAVIES
18  Fernando LLORENTE
11  Erik LAMELA
 

 
Manager :   David Wagner Manager :  Mauricio Pochettino
Sponsor :   OPE Shirt sponsor :  AIA
Kit Supplier :  Umbro Kit Supplier :   Nike
Match report

Spurs won a fairly stolid match at Huddersfield Town, who forsook their attacking, passing gain for a more physical approach in an attempt to drag themselves off the bottom of the table with their first home goal of the season.   Not worrying about winning friends any more and more concerned about winning matches, David Wagner went for a tactic to try and bully Spurs out of the game, but the deadly goal-scoring of Harry Kane ensured that the change of style did not pay off for the Terriers.

There was only one change to the Spurs side, with Davinson Sanchez being selected to take Christian Eriksen's place, with the wing backs pushing up to complement Son and Lucas in the attacking midfield four.  Huddersfield looked to dominate in the early stages, with a pacy and energetic opening 15 minutes, when they were quickly on Spurs players who were in possession, but during that time they failed to put any pressure on goalkeeper Gazzaniga or the Spurs defence really.  In fact, Spurs had the first decent chance of the game, when a Trippier cross found Danny Rose of all people running onto the ball to head it at goal, but he put it wide, when really he should have hit the target.  That was after seven minutes and Huddersfield were keen to find their first home goal of the season, but Alderweireld and Sanchez were looking strong and were denying Depoitre space to turn on the ball.  Jan Vertonghen needed attention after 15 minutes, when he looked to have stretched a hamstring. He was fine to carry on and got through the rest of the half, almost getting on the end of a Trippier free-kick, but it was a little too long.

Spurs had weathered the storm and were looking to start moving into the Huddersfield half, with Kieran Trippier finding space on the right and putting in a bending cross that Harry Kane got on the end of, getting behind Schindler, heading downwards into the bottom corner of Lossl's goal to put Spurs into the lead and showing that he has a love of scoring at the John Smiths/Galpharm/Huddersfield stadium.  Lucas had done well, as he might have had a penalty as he ran into the box, but he got up to play the ball back to Kieran to cross for the goal, showing how determined he is to help the side and not just settle for personal glory.

In the aftermath of the goal, Terence Kongolo was carried off on a stretcher, having been injured earlier, he was further injured in trying to stop Lucas Moura's run.  Hadergjonaj came on, causing a bit of a re-shuffle in their defence. it was the sub who was involved when Son and Rose opened up the Terriers on their left and Danny surged into the box, only to be pulled back by Hadergjonaj.  With Harry Kane back in the side, he was back on penalty duty and duly dispatched the ball to Lossl's left to hit the net, sending the keeper the wrong way and doubling his goal tally and Spurs' too.  It was a good move and came after Paulo Gazzaniga had made a fine stop to his left to Chris Lowe's rising shot from nearly 39 yards out, pushing it past the post.

Son almost got in from a quick throw, but the Huddersfield crowd and the Huddersfield players both lost their heads.  The crowd were unhappy at a quick throw in being taken (?) and the players were just idiotic, with Jorgensen typifying that with a crass kick at Kane's ankle and a booking was his reward.  Five minutes of added time were displayed on the fourth official's board to cover Kongolo's treatment and Jan Vertonghen's visit from the physio.  In that time, Durm crossed from the left for Depoitre to hit a volley against the bar and the ball bounced down off the underside of the woodwork, away from any striped shirt coming in.  On the attack, just before the whistle blew for the interval, Lucas Moura seized on a mistake that took him away from the defence and he tried to play a square ball for Son, but it didn't find him.

After half-time, Wanyama and Winks came on for Vertonghen and Dembele.  Dier moved back into defence and the two subs slotted into the defensive midfield two in front of the back three.  Five minutes into the second half, Lucas had a chance as he ran into the box onto Son's pass, but his shot from close range was blocked by Lossl and he was away again, until Schindler made a well-timed tackle to take the ball back to his goalkeeper.  Lucas was the main threat, with a darting run past Schindler from the halfway line, taking him clear and when there was three on three, he chose to have a go himself, as Zanka backed off him and put it wide.  Huddersfield looked to lump balls into the final third to try and out-muscle the Tottenham defenders.  Rose was booked to the sad delight of the home crowd, conceding a free-kick that dropped to Pritchard, but Kane got in the way and took the sting out of a tame effort, allowing Gazzaniga to take the ball comfortably. 

Kane was in the game and held the ball up for Son to get through and with Harry and Rose in attack, he shot rather than use his team-mates.  Pritchard drew a foul by Winks' tackle on him and from the free-kick Lowe put the ball wide, although Gazzaniga had to stretch across to make sure, in case it was on target.  Wagner brought on Mbenza for Schindler and went to a flat four at the back, changing to a 4-3-3 formation. 

Billing had a clear header from a free-kick, played into the box by Mooy, but his downward effort bounced up to allow Gazzaniga to claim the ball.  Although Town tried to push on, Spurs were looking to hit on the break and Hogg lost the ball, allowing Son to get away, but the Huddersfield captain got a foot in to stop the attack.  Gazzaniga was sharp to reach up to his top corner, as the Terriers' sub ran onto a ball  25 yards out and hit a fierce strike that the Spurs keeper pushed away for a corner.  The game was going from end to end, as Huddersfield players tired and mistakes were made, while Spurs were spurning opportunities to break away and punish the home team further.  Another went begging when Trippier's free-kick was punched out by Lossl, straight at Wanyama, who appeared to stick out his arm that directed the ball down and he hit it back towards goal, but Lossl had recovered to save.

A last throw of the dice saw Wagner throw on Mounie and he nearly got onto a cross, but Toby prevented him reaching it and the ball went out for  a Huddersfield throw, but the long one from Billing came to nothing.  Billing fouled Son, as he joined Jorgensen in the book.  Jorgensen was lucky not to go onto the referee's booking list again, after hacking down Kane on the halfway line in injury tie, which saw Pochettino asking the fourth official how that wasn't a second yellow for the Dane, who should have been taking the long walk.  Once more, Kane was kicked from pillar to post to the complete indifference of the referee, who is supposed to have the safety of the players as his utmost priority.

Spurs had the luxury of facing an opposition who have little goal threat and could afford to substitute some players in readiness for Wednesday's Champions League match with Barcelona at Wembley.  With two first half goals, it was unlikely (although not impossible) that Spurs would let this one slip.  The game could have matched last season's score if the many goal-scoring opportunities that were created had been finished off, but once more, the chance to finish the game off were allowed to pass untaken.  That could be costly if it happens on Wednesday, but Huddersfield and Barcelona are two worlds apart.  Let's hope we can close that gap.

The Heathrow Spur

 
 
 
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Other scores during this week :
Arsenal 2 Watford 0 Saturday
Everton 3 Fulham 0 Saturday
Manchester City 2 Brighton & Hove Albion 0 Saturday
Newcastle United 0 Leicester City 2 Saturday
West Ham United London 3 Manchester United 1 Saturday
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 Southampton 0 Saturday
Chelsea 1 Liverpool 1 Saturday
Bournemouth 2 Crystal Palace 1 Monday
Cardiff City 1 Burnley 2 Sunday

 

 

League Table  2018-19
  P W D L F A Pts GD
1 Manchester City 7 6 1 0 21 3 19 +18
2 Liverpool 7 6 1 0 15 3 19 +12
3 Chelsea 7 5 2 0 15 5 17 +10
4 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 7 5 0 2 14 7 15 +7
5 Arsenal 7 5 0 2 14 9 15 +5
6 Watford 7 4 1 2 11 8 13 +3
7 Bournemouth 7 4 1 2 12 12 13 0
8 Leicester City 7 4 0 3 13 10 12 +3
9 Wolverhampton Wanderers 7 3 3 1 8 6 12 +2
10 Manchester United 7 3 1 3 10 12 10 -2
11 Everton 7 2 3 2 11 11 9 0
12 Burnley 7 2 1 6 8 10 7 -2
13 Crystal Palace 7 2 1 4 5 8 7 -3
14 West Ham United London 7 2 1 4 8 12 7 -4
15 Southampton 7 1 2 4 6 11 5 -5
16 Brighton & Hove Albion 7 1 2 4 8 13 5 -5
17 Fulham 7 1 2 4 8 16 5 -8
18 Newcastle United 7 0 2 5 4 10 2 -6
19 Cardiff City 7 0 2 5 4 16 2 -12
20 Huddersfield Town 7 0 2 5 3 16 2 -13

 

Position before match :  5th
Position after match :  4th
Position after the weekend :  4th

 

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