Lloris, Danny Rose and Christian Eriksen earn praise.
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Tottenham Hotspur won by their favourite scoreline – 2-1 – on Saturday afternoon as Sunderland were narrowly defeated at White Hart Lane.
Spurs dominated possession – with 65% of the ball – but the Black Cats looked like they would earn a battling point, before Christian Eriksen’s eighth goal of the season fired the hosts in front on 88 minutes.
Jan Vertonghen had earlier broken the deadlock, only for Sunderland midfielder Sebastian Larsson to equalise with an unstoppable free-kick midway through the first half.
Here’s how Mauricio Pochettino’s men rated on a day which saw them climb above local rivals Arsenal to fifth in the Premier League table…
GK: Hugo Lloris – 8/10
Made an impressive double save to deny Adam Johnson and Danny Graham with the score at 1-1. Then made a world class block to stop Graham stealing a stoppage-time equaliser. No goalkeeper on the planet would have kept out Larsson’s superb free-kick.
RB: Kyle Walker – 6/10
Walker had a surprisingly quiet game, considering how much Spurs dominated possession. That’s because Tottenham did most of their attacking down the left, where Danny Rose looked very sharp.
LB: Danny Rose – 8/10
Showed tremendous confidence and ability to dribble past opponents from tight situations on multiple occasions. Very dangerous going forward. Solid defensively.
CB: Eric Dier – 7/10
Did very well on a rare start at centre-back. He was rarely troubled by Jermain Defoe, although he did produce an terrific last-ditch slide tackle to halt the former Spurs man’s progress early in the second half.
CB: Jan Vertonghen – 6.5/10
Opened the scoring with a well-taken goal – although his shot was deflected, he showed excellent composure to control a loose ball and get a decent strike on target. He undid much of his good work when he fouled Defoe to give away the free-kick from which Sunderland equalised. He was fortunate that his mistake did not cost his team. However, he was far from fortunate in second-half stoppage time, when he found the net again, only for his goal to be ruled out for offside, despite clearly being inside his own half when the ball was played.
CM: Mousa Dembele – 6/10
Did okay, but did clearly did not invest anywhere near maximum effort into the match. Spurs improved significantly when Dembele was replaced by Andros Townsend with 15 minutes left.
CM: Benjamin Stambouli – 7/10
Was the key to Spurs winning the midfield battle. Didn’t do much with the ball, but creativity is not in his job description.
AM: Nacer Chadli – 5.5/10
A rare off-day for Tottenham’s goal-getting midfield man.
AM: Harry Kane – 6.5/10
Smashed a low long-shot off the foot of the post in first-half stoppage time. Kane started many of Tottenham’s attacks from deep, but a side effect of him playing in the number 10 role – rather than up front – was that he did not get into the penalty area frequently enough.
AM: Christian Eriksen – 7.5/10
Was twice denied by goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon with fierce strikes from long range and he almost scored a contender for goal of the season, but his ‘Paul Gascoigne style’ flick and volley ended with his effort landing marginally wide. Eriksen kept trying, though, and his persistence was rewarded when he guided a low drive into the bottom corner of the net to grab the winner late on. Overall, the Dane was very good, but his set-pieces were awful.
ST: Roberto Soldado – 5/10
Soldado failed to convert a decent chance as he tried to dance around Pantilimon when one-on-one in with the Sunderland goalkeeper in the first half. He then spurned another good opportunity just after the break, failing to get a toe on a brilliant low cross from Eriksen. Sensing that Soldado was never going to score, Pochettino replaced him with Emmanuel Adebayor on 61 minutes.
Subs:
Emmanuel Adebayor – 6/10
Did not look fully fit, but his introduction still improved Tottenham’s attacking dynamic, with the Togolese forward providing his team’s widemen with a much better target than they had in sorry Soldado.
Andros Townsend – 7/10
Punished Sunderland’s tiring legs with scary pace. Townsend set up Eriksen’s winner following a rapid burst down the right flank.
Paulinho – n/a
Was only on the pitch for a few minutes, after coming on for Chadli.