On the back of the midweek defeat to Monaco, Mauricio Pochettino must have delighted his Tottenham side faced Sunderland as a chance redemption. Coming into the tie, the Black Cats had lost 13 of their previous 15 league visits to White Hart Lane and had won just one of their last 10 away Premier League fixtures before today.
Spurs were immediately on the front foot and mustered 19 first shots before the interval, the most in the opening 45 minutes of a Premier League match since Liverpool defeated Leicester on Boxing Day last year. Yet, they came up against a goalkeeper in tremendous form. Jordan Pickford made his Premier League debut in this fixture last season and churned out an effective performance, despite conceding four in the January encounter.
The young English goalkeeper was keen to better his showing on his last visit to White Hart Lane and as effective a last line of defence as they come. However, with Spurs piling on the pressure, it came as no huge surprise to see the hosts at last break the deadlock on the hour mark. Harry Kane was on hand to score Spurs’ first goal of the afternoon from their 22nd shot and his second in his last three competitive outings.
However, victory for Spurs came at a cost. In the space of two second half minutes, Eric Dier and Mousa Dembele - making his first league start since the 2-2 draw with Chelsea back in May - both limped off with cramp, while Kane was also forced off with a nasty ankle complaint late on. The latter’s injury, though, could well be a blessing in disguise, with Kane featuring in 118 of a possible 126 matches for club and country since bagging his winner in the 2-1 victory at Aston Villa back in November 2014.
Clearly, Kane requires a rest and a spell on the sidelines could well do the England international the world of good in the long run. Furthermore, the injuries to Dembele, Dier and Kane further highlights Spurs’ immense strength in depth this season. Erik Lamela, Ben Davies and Vincent Janssen all came on for the hosts to cover for the injured trio, with Christian Eriksen and Kieran Trippier both un-used subs in the hard-fought win over Sunderland. The quality in depth is further highlighted in that Heung-min Son gained a WhoScored rating of 8.33 at White Hart Lane, with he Spurs’ best performer in Sunday’s late kick off.
Son was unlucky not to have contributed to a goal himself having had more shots (7) and played more key passes (5) than any other player in the victory, while only Adnan Januzaj (5) completed more dribbles than the Spurs man (4). Standing between the 24-year-old and a goal, ultimately, was Pickford, who did not deserve to be on the losing side at White Hart Lane. Spurs managed 31 shots in total over the 90 minutes, nine of which hit the target. Eight those were denied by Pickford, with it taking a Papy Djilobodji error to gift Kane with the goal. “He has real potential. He did really well (today),” manager David Moyes said of Pickford’s performance, with the Sunderland boss understandably enthused over the youngster and rightly so having gained the best WhoScored rating (8.35) of all players.
The 22-year-old shotstopper showcased just why he is so highly rated by the Sunderland hierarchy with he time and time again denying the Spurs offensive. However, it wasn’t enough for the Black Cats, who came away from empty handed once more. Spurs were made to work for all the three, but they were worthy winners in the end.
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