Spurs cruise past the Clarets
Written By: Robert Halter
An early December encounter took place with Tottenham Hotspur and Burnley, and it took just four minutes for Spurs to open the scoring against the Clarets, when from a long ball by Toby Alderweireld, a short pass from Heung-Min Son was collected by Harry Kane, who unleashed a thunderbolt from outside the box, which ripped the back of the net in the bottom left corner. It quickly changed to a two goal advantage in the ninth minute, when from an assist by Jan Vertonghen, a fine run by Son was kept out by the out stretched left boot of Nick Pope, and as the ball deflected off James Tarkowski, in a goal mouth scramble, through Dele Alli’s intervention, Pope pushed the ball towards Lucas Moura, who from very close range, put his strike into the right side of the net. In the sixteenth minute, after combining with Son, the ball was rammed against the foot of the left post from Moussa Sissoko. Another chance went begging for Spurs as Kane set free Alli, who raced through, but behind him Tarkowski challenged Alli, who then miss fired past the outside of the right post. In the twenty first minute, the Clarets threatened for the first time, when Dwight McNeil’s cross was headed by Robbie Brady, against the top left area of the crossbar, and from the rebound Chris Wood’s header struck the forehead of Davinson Sanchez, and out of play. There was soon a brief delay as Son required treatment having been clattered into by Matthew Lowton, who was shown a yellow card. On twenty six minutes through an Erik Pieters delivery, a header from Jay Rodriguez was caught by Paulo Gazzaniga. In the thirty second minute, the lightning pace of Son carved open the Clarets defence, when through an assist by Vertonghen, from inside his own half, Son started his run which took him away from Brady and Tarkowski, then beating off McNeil’s challenge, Son strolled past Pieters, after which Son left behind Matthew Lowton and Ben Mee, and with just Pope to beat, Son lifted the ball over him, into the bottom right corner. Two minutes later, following an infringement on Kane by Jack Cork, a free kick by Son was headed over the top left corner from Kane. In the thirty eighth minute, from a McNeill cross, a downward header by Rodriguez, bounced past the left post. Before half time McNeil pushed over Alli, and from Kane’s free kick, Son struck the wall and then claimed a handball against Jeff Hendrick, but the decision went against Spurs. There was a delay in play, after the start of the second half, when Tarkowski pushed over Kane. But in the fifty fourth minute, Kane was back on the score sheet, when after collecting a pass from Alli, and turning past Tarkowski, the ball was riffled by Kane, past Pope, into the top left corner. After Serge Aurier caught the leg of McNeil, he required treatment, as the Clarets replaced Wood with Matej Vydra before Aaron Lennon faced his former Lilywhites in favour of Brady. A booking later followed for Eric Dier after he trod on the instep of Hendrick. In the seventy fourth minute, after playing a one two combination move with Kane, before advancing into the left side of the area, Sissoko struck a low drive into the far right bottom corner, to add a fifth goal for Spurs against the depleted Clarets. Moura was then switched for Ryan Sessegnon. In the seventy sixth minute, Son’s square pass was connected to with a snap shot by Alli into the clutches of Pope. An enforced change was later made by Spurs, as Aurier was unable to continue and Oliver Skipp took his place. After which Troy Parrott was given a brief debut in the first team as he took over from Alli, on what was a convincing win for Tottenham Hotspur with a 5-0 demolition of an outclassed Burnley.