Tottenham 1 - 0 Sunderland
An uneven performance still earned Tottenham a 1-0 win over a visiting Sunderland team on Sunday.
Tottenham came out with a line-up that was a bit strange to many.
Eric Dier at centre-back next to Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen at left back was surprising. It was pretty unfair to drop Ben Davies after he’s done a very good job in replacing the injured Danny Rose.
Tottenham was electric from the first whistle, getting chance after chance and getting closer and closer as the first half went along. It seems as if Spurs can’t do much with the possession that they have over other teams during matches.
A lot of domination when it comes to possession, but there’s no end result. After a good first half, both teams went into the tunnel with no goals.
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The second half was much of the same. A lot of Tottenham possession that finally led to a goal. Similar to his goal against Stoke, the ball fell right to Harry Kane’s feet from a couple of yards out, and all he had to do was bury it one time. Just like that, Tottenham took the 1-0 lead.
Mousa Dembélé’s presence was made very visible on the day. There’s no doubt that the team just looks a lot better when he’s in the midfield pulling strings from all over the place.
Dembélé and Dier both exited the game with apparent hamstring injuries and were replaced by Érik Lamela and Davies respectively.
Harry Kane picked up an ankle injury and had to be stretchered off, which is never good news. The mid-week Champions League game against Monaco has a lot to do with the knocks that Dier and Dembélé have picked up. Thankfully, Tottenham have a lot of depth due to the club’s signings this summer transfer window.
Spurs looked solid, but they definitely could have played a lot better. Three points is three points, however. Hopefully, Tottenham can muster some better performances from the team next week.
Next up is a mid-week EFL Cup match against Gillingham, then a trip to recently promoted Middlesbrough next Saturday.