Tottenham Hotspur travelled to Wales to take on Swansea City on Tuesday in what turned out to be under horrid conditions at the Liberty Stadium. The Spurs needed a win to close the gap to Liverpool in fourth place and they did exactly that but had to work hard for the victory. Mauricio Pochettino opted for a 4-2-3-1 formation and decided to start with Fernando Llorente ahead of star striker Harry Kane who had to settle for a place on the bench after recently recovering from illness.
The North Londoners took an early lead courtesy of Llorente’s header from a Christian Eriksen free-kick inside the first quarter of the game. The Swans came back and created a few chances by capitalising on the horrid conditions on the pitch. However, they failed to score an equaliser before half-time. The contest was pretty even in the second half with the home team coming the closest to an equaliser when they hit the crossbar. However, the Spurs defence stood firm and their frontline killed off the contest with a late Dele Alli strike after a brilliant ball from super sub Harry Kane. Mauricio Pochettino’s men ran out 2-0 winners and bagged all three points on the night.
Let’s shed some light on how each Tottenham Hotspur player fared in the match.
GK: Hugo Lloris – 6/10
The French goalkeeper hardly had anything to do in the first half. He made a few good saves after the break to deny Swansea of an equaliser.
RB: Kieran Trippier – 8/10
He was superb at right-back for Spurs and did well to cope with the runs of Nathan Dyer and Jordan Ayew. The 27-year-old also had a good game going forward and was always an outlet for his team.
CB: Davinson Sanchez – 5/10
He had a difficult time against the Swans and could have been sent off for a rash challenge in the second half. A day to forget for the Colombian and he was rightfully subbed off in the 58th minute.
CB: Jan Vertonghen – 7/10
The Belgian defender looked composed on the ball and commanded his backline well to earn an all-important clean sheet for his team.
LB: Ben Davies – 6/10
A strong performance from the Spurs left-back but Narsingh gave him some problems later on in the match.
CM: Eric Dier – 6/10
He did well to shield the back four and retain possession for his team.
CM: Christian Eriksen – 7/10
The Dutch midfielder was always dangerous with his accurate free-kicks from dead ball situations. He had a good game at the centre of the park for Spurs.
CAM: Dele Alli – 8/10
He had a quiet first half but came alive after the half-time break. The midfielder was a constant threat and finally scored a goal late on to cap off a brilliant display for his side.
RM: Erik Lamela – 6/10
Not the best performance from the Argentine. He struggled to make an impact on the game but earned a few free kicks in some dangerous positions for Spurs in the opposition half.
LM: Son Heung-min – 7/10
The South Korean put in a tireless shift for Spurs and was unlucky not to score on the night.
ST: Fernando Llorente – 7/10
The former Swansea forward scored against his old club to give his team the crucial lead in the contest.
Substitutes:
CB: Victor Wanyama – 6/10
He came off the bench for the last half an hour of the game and did well to earn his team a clean sheet.
ST: Harry Kane – 7/10
The Spurs superstar came on to provide a sublime ball for Dele Alli to kill off the contest in the dying embers of the game.
CM: Moussa Sissoko – 6/10
He came on to provide some fresh legs in the midfield but hardly had an impact in the contest.
