Tottenham Hotspur on this Day - 28th November 2010

Tottenham Horspur on this Day - 28th November

28th November 2010

 

Tottenham Hotspur 2 Liverpool 1 Premier League

Scorers: Opp.o.g., Lennon

 

Ahead of this match, Harry Redknapp’s team were in sixth place in the Premier League with 22 points, 3 places and 3 points ahead of Liverpool.

 

Spurs went into the game on the back of three successive victories in the previous fortnight with success over Blackburn Rovers at White Hart Lane, a win at Arsenal and a midweek Champions League win over Werder Bremen at the Lane.

 

Spurs went into the game with three central defenders out injured - Ledley King, Michael Dawson and Jonathan Woodgate - and they suffered another blow when Rafael van der Vaart departed after twelve minutes. Jermain Defoe replaced him and then after 36 minutes, Younes Kaboul had to go off with Sebastien Bassong coming on from the bench. 

 

Aaron Lennon scored late winner against Liverpool

Liverpool had the better of the first period and went ahead with three minutes remaining to half-time. From a free-kick, Skrtel headed the ball against his own player but reacted quickest to hammer the loose ball into the net from six yards.

 

Liverpool had an opportunity, immediately after the break, to double their lead. Bassong, again, made a crucial tackle on Torres, just as he had done prior to the interval. Liverpool could have put the match out of Spurs’ reach but they left the door open as Spurs had a shot from Gareth Bale cleared off the line.

Showing continued persistence to get back into the match, on the hour, Spurs squandered their best chance to draw level - a penalty awarded for handball when defending a Bale free-kick. With penalty-taker, van der Vaart off and Bale having missed one in mid-week, Defoe took responsibility but put his shot wide. This was Tottenham’s fourth miss of the season from the spot and Defoe’s fifth miss from his previous six penalties.

 

It was Liverpool who eventually delivered the equaliser. Luka Modric was the inspiration, beating two men before delivering a cross aimed for Peter Crouch but cut out by Skrtel, diverting the ball into his own goal.

 

Both teams claimed for penalties in the final frantic minutes but it was always Tottenham who looked the more determined to take all three points. The visitors had lost Jamie Carragher to injury in the 87th minute and it was then that Spurs went ahead. Crouch won a duel in the air from Assou-Ekotto’s high ball, Aaron Lennon picked it up went past a defender and finished coolly in injury time - his first goal in over a year.

 

Tottenham had clawed the match back and were proving very adept at this as they had claimed 16 points from losing positions in the opening four months of the season. That sort of fighting spirit was appreciated by Harry Redknapp with Tottenham in 5th place, six points behind the League leaders.

 

Team: Gomes; Hutton, Kaboul (Bassong), Gallas, Assou-Ekotto; Bale, Lennon, Palacios, van der Vaart (Defoe) (Sandro), Modric, Crouch

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