Tottenham warmed up for their Champions League tie with Juventus by easing to a 2-0 defeat of Huddersfield at Wembley.
Their manager Mauricio Pochettino, who turned 46 on Friday, had asked his players to give him a performance and result worth celebrating and they convincingly delivered through two goals from Son Heung-min.
With victory they strengthened their grip on a Champions League qualification place and left Huddersfield jut above the bottom three on an afternoon when they lost both Collin Quaner and Alex Pritchard to injury.
What they said
Huddersfield manager David Wagner: “They were too good for us. We tried to put in effort, attitude and fighting spirit and it was not enough. It doesn’t mean the disappointment is really big. It’s something we can absolutely accept. The first half wasn’t what we are able to show. The second half was better. At the end we have to say that this was a deserved defeat. We were beaten by quality.”
Tweet of the match
Solid home win. Great goals from Sonny. Looking forward to Wednesday. #COYS #THFC #PremierLeague pic.twitter.com/8uTcsEaOWD
— Harry Kane (@HKane) March 3, 2018
Star man – Son Heung-min
55 – @HKane chips a delightful ball into the path of Sonny who heads into the far corner past Lossl to double our lead!
⚪️ #THFC 2-0 #HTAFC ? pic.twitter.com/k1at4GylYu
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) March 3, 2018
The forward impressed with not only the two goals that secured Tottenham’s victory, but with his consistent goal threat, his creation of chances for team-mates and his relentless energy until he was substituted in the 70th minute.
Ref watch
Mike Jones, who was meant to referee the game, was injured in the warm-up. He was replaced by Kevin Friend. Jones has just hobbled out and sat on a seat between the managers. A seated fourth official today. Spurs have had some fun with officials in recent days. pic.twitter.com/dJhFqmf5gl
— Alasdair Gold (@AlasdairGold) March 3, 2018
After Mike Jones suffered an injury during the warm-up, he had to be replaced by fourth official Kevin Friend, and instead acted as fourth official from a chair on the sidelines. An announcement over the Wembley tannoy requested qualified referees, before another, that insisted “We have the situation in hand”.
Surprise of the match
Thought it unusual enough that Fernando Llorente can go from scoring a hat-trick to not even making the bench
— Declan Warrington (@decwarrington) March 3, 2018
That Fernando Llorente, having scored a hat-trick in Wednesday’s 6-1 FA Cup defeat of Rochdale, did not even make the Tottenham bench. Their manager Mauricio Pochettino replaced three of his key players – Dele Alli, Son and Mousa Dembele – during the second half in preparation for the Juve fixture, but without a striker there, Kane played the entire game.
Player ratings
Tottenham: Hugo Lloris 7, Serge Aurier 6, Davinson Sanchez 7, Jan Vertonghen 8, Ben Davies 7, Eric Dier 7, Mousa Dembele 7, Christian Eriksen 8, Dele Alli 8, Son Heung-min 9, Harry Kane 8. Subs: Erik Lamela (for Son, 70 mins) 7, Moussa Sissoko (for Dembele, 77 mins) 5, Lucas Moura (for Alli, 83 mins) 5.
Huddersfield: Jonas Lossl 7, Florent Hadergjonaj 5, Terence Kongolo 5, Mathias Jorgensen 6, Christopher Schindler 6, Danny Williams 6, Jonathan Hogg 7, Colin Quaner 5, Alex Pritchard 5, Rajiv van La Parra 6, Steve Mounie 5. Subs: Tom Ince (for Quaner, 33 mins) 7, Philip Billing (for Pritchard, 45 mins) 5, Laurent Depoitre (for Hogg, 83 mins) 5.
Who’s up next?
Huddersfield v Swansea, Premier League, March 10
