Norwich 0 - 3 Spurs
Dele Alli 2 Harry Kane 30 Pen Harry Kane 90
Dele Alli, despite feeling unwell, put Tottenham into an early lead against Norwich City at Carrow Road.
No January purchases, no Jan Vertonghen, no problem for Tottenham Hotspur. Not here, at any rate. This was a suave demonstration of Spurs’ intention to sustain their challenge at the top of the Premier League. Even before Dele Alli shot them into the lead in the second minute the visitors looked a class above Norwich, two goals from Harry Kane garnishing a victory that enabled Mauricio Pochettino’s men to leapfrog Arsenal into third place in the table and left Norwich grasping for security at the other end.
A place in next season’s Champions League would be a fine achievement for Spurs but performances like this suggest an even greater feat is within their reach, as do the bare facts: they are five points behind the league leaders, Leicester City, have not lost away since the opening day of the season and the margin of their win here gave them the best goal difference in the league. Spurs’ fans can dream, especially as their manager can be counted on to ensure the players’ minds do not wander.
“We are very calm,” said Pochettino. “We showed maturity and consistency here but this has been the key since the beginning of the season. We cannot get distracted by the table. It’s important to arrive in the last few games with the possibility of fighting but we have a long way ahead.”
Norwich may not be the most fearsome opponents but this was set up to be a serious test for Spurs, being their first league match since the loss of Vertonghen to a knee ligament injury. For the first time in the campaign, then, Vertonghen could not partner Toby Alderweireld in central defence.
Kevin Wimmer was given his first league start instead and produced a display that suggested the break-up of the Belgian partnership need not be ruinous.
Norwich’s defence, on the other hand, remains in tatters despite the fact that they, too, started with a new centre-back here, Timm Klose, bought last month from Wolfsburg, making his debut. It took Spurs 100 seconds to expose the problems that remain in the home defence. A shot by Alderweireld was cleared only as far as Christian Eriksen, whose curling effort from 20 yards was spilled by Declan Rudd. Alli reacted faster than Sébastien Bassong to stab the ball into the net from close range. “We worked all week on the back four and then we concede in a minute and a half,” said an annoyed Alex Neil.
Spurs went on to lord it over their hosts. They looked stronger, slicker and more imaginative, and created several chances to prove that on the scoreboard. Alderweireld went close with a free header before Son Heung-min flicked a cross from Kane into the side-netting. Pochettino craved another goal to confirm his team’s dominance and it arrived on the half hour, albeit after a contested penalty decision. Alli went down in the box after beating Bassong to a rebound off Rudd from a shot by Kane, who rammed the penalty into the net.
Four minutes later Kane almost scored again but his ferocious shot from the left cannoned back out off a post. Alli should have made it 3-0 before the break after dashing into the box undetected by any Norwich defender, but the 19-year-old headed Danny Rose’s cross wide from eight yards. Norwich’s hope of staging a comeback looked faint, even more so when they were denied a penalty after Steven Naismith went down under a challenge from Wimmer.
Alli was replaced by Nacer Chadli at half-time. “He felt unwell, but now he’s OK,” Pochettino explained later. “We will assess him on Wednesday but the signs are good.”
The signs are not so encouraging for Norwich, who, despite a second-half improvement, ended up convincing losers. Kane scored on the break in the last minute, moments after hitting the post from a similar move. That was the 17th goal that Norwich have conceded in their last four matches, proving that despite personnel changes the team has yet to plug big gaps at the back. Neil’s exasperation is clear. “If we as a squad don’t realise quickly that we need to get our fingers out, then its going to be tough” he said.
The Scot was also miffed at the response he got from the referee, Kevin Friend, after complaining about several decisions made during the game. “Kevin’s response was ‘Yeah, it’s my fault’,sarcastically,” said Neil, who did not claim that the decisions were the reason for Spurs’ victory. Nor did the manager blame the official for the yellow card shown two minutes from full-time to Alex Tettey, who will miss this weekend’s trip to Aston Villa, a match in which Norwich can ill-afford to drop points. “That was crazy,” said Neil of his midfielder’s foul.
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