Perhaps the biggest surprise for Tottenham on Wednesday night was the strength of the XI Mauricio Pochettino put out. The Argentine made one change to the side that stormed to a 5-0 win over Swansea at the weekend, with Harry Winks replacing Mousa Dembele. Pochettino perhaps felt that the best way into the Champions League next season was to win the Europa League and sent out the best possible team to guarantee a place in Europe’s second club competition in the New Year.
The announcement of the XI meant Danny Rose and Kyle Walker started a first Champions League game together this season, which - considering the team had already crashed out of the competition before Wednesday’s welcome of CSKA - was something of mystery. That being said, with a three point gap separating Spurs and fourth-placed Manchester City following the latest round of Premier League fixtures, Pochettino’s intention to make an assault on the Europa League was clear for all to see.
There was also the need to overcome the Wembley hoodoo that has dogged Spurs since their 2008 League Cup win over Chelsea. The north London side had lost their previous six competitive outings here and with the club playing their league games at Wembley next season, Pochettino was evidently keen to end 2016 with a win at the national stadium and end the porous run, but importantly the need to “make Wembley our home.”
They made things difficult for themselves in the first half, however, as Zoran Tosic nodded into the path of Alan Dzagoev to finish past Hugo Lloris from close range. Eric Dier was caught ball watching and allowed Dzagoev a free run at the Spurs goalkeeper. With Toby Alderweireld on the bench, it was far from the ideal time for Dier to mess up with the Belgian now fully recovered from a knee injury that had kept him sidelined since the 1-1 draw with West Brom. Indeed, he made his return to competitive football in the second half to earn a standing ovation from the home support, who welcomed the defender back to action with a rapturous applause.
CSKA held on to their lead for just five minutes, however, as Dele Alli was on hand to fire past Igor Akinfeev having been picked out by Christian Eriksen at the back post. It’s now been 10 years since Akinfeev last kept a clean sheet in the Champions League, excluding qualifiers, a run of 39 games, despite a spirited start to the game from the 30-year-old shotstopper. There was little he could do to deny Spurs a second and Harry Kane a first goal of the encounter as the Spurs man tapped into an empty net after Danny Rose found the frontman at the back post from a low cross.
Spurs wrapped up the three points and a place in the Europa League in the final 15 minutes after Akinfeev inadvertently turned into his own net after a good initial stop to deny Alli a second of the match. A 3-1 win ensured Spurs will be playing European football next year and, perhaps most importantly, gave the team a much-needed first win in seven attempts at Wembley. The Premier League side, of course, rightly deserved the credit for such an effective performance, particularly for their mental fortitude to not panic after going a goal down, but it was the display of Eriksen that turned heads once more.
After a man of the match performance in the 5-0 thumping of Swansea, the Dane was at it again to earn the accolade against CSKA. Having been on the receiving end of some deserved criticism, Eriksen looks back to his destructive best for Spurs, with a WhoScored rating of 8.94 better than any other player in the 3-1 win over the Russian side. The young creator provided the assist for Alli’s goal and he could have had more having played the most key passes (8) in the encounter at Wembley.
It was his partnership with Walker down the right that allowed Spurs to stretch the CSKA defence, with Eriksen willingly drifting infield to open up the space for Walker to exploit and overlap. Indeed, that’s noted in that Walker completed more dribbles (4) than any other player in the fixture as he and Rose on the opposite flank performed their necessary attacking duties to hurt their Russian opponents.
With 25 shots to CSKA’s six and a 72.1% share of possession, it was a deserved win for Spurs, with the victory exactly what was required for the team and Pochettino.
For more stats on Spurs 3-1 CSKA Moscow, click here to view the WhoScored match centre
