26  Kyle NAUGHTON  (  4  KI Sung-Yueng  72)
33  Federico FERNANDEZ
  6  Alfie MAWSON
16  Martin OLSSON

15  Wayne ROUTLEDGE  (28  Luciano NARSINGH  90+5)
24  Jack CORK  (c) 
42  Tom CARROLL
  8  Leroy FER

23  Gylfi SIGURDSSON

  3  Jordan AYEW       (62  Oliver McBURNIE  76)

Unused subs: 
13  Kristoffer NORDFELDT
  2  Jordi AMAT
35  Stephen KINGSLEY
20  Jefferson MONTERO

 

33  Ben DAVIES  (14  Georges-Kevin NKOUDOU  79)
  4  Toby ALDERWEIRELD
  5  Jan VERTONGHEN (c)

  2  Kyle WALKER
19  Moussa DEMBELE
15  Eric DIER     

17  Moussa SISSOKO  (  9  Vincent JANSSEN  61)
20 -DELE Alli 
23  Christian ERIKSEN 

  7  Heung-Min SON    (16  Kieran TRIPPIER  90+3)

Unused subs: 
30  Pau LOPEZ
38  Cameron CARTER-VICKERS
27  Kevin WIMMER
25  Josh ONOMAH

A game that saw Spurs dominate without being able to break down a determined Swansea City side with lots of the ball, but little penetration through the ranks of white shirts between them and the goal.  But with two minutes to go, an equaliser came and in added time, a tiring Swans defence was ripped apart with two more goals, giving Tottenham three points to keep us second and just with a chance to make up some ground on Chelsea, should they slip up.

Vorm started in goal, with Lloris ill, Son lead the line and Dier lined up in midfield, with Dembele alongside him and Sissoko ahead of them.  The rest of the side was as normal.

Tottenham had started at a quick pace and Walker set up Son for a shot that was blocked and then Son played in Sissoko on the right when Eriksen had won the ball in midfield.  The former Newcastle man chose to try and square the ball to three yellow shirts in the box, but the ball was cut out.  A couple of corners followed with nothing more than a cut head for Cork resulting from them.

When Swansea won three corners on the trot, Spurs defended them well, but when a long clearance saw Ayew get to the dead ball line, his ball into the six yard box from the right saw Routledge get to the ball ahead of Alderweireld at the near post, sweeping it past Vorm to give the home side the lead in the 11th minute. 

Sours had to hit back and twice Walker got crosses in from the right, with the first over-hit, but the second was tempting, although nobody got in on the ball as it crossed the goalmouth.   Eriksen tried a 25 yarder, but Fabianski was right behind the low effort and Dele was unlucky after good control in the box and an acrobatic overhead kick that went a couple of feet over the top.

While Spurs were having lots of possession, the final pass was lacking and Swansea were quick to get a lot of bodies back behind the ball.  The middle part of the half was stolid stuff, with neither side creating anything, but a break sent Eriksen away on the left and his  volley went way too high. 

The 75% possession indicated that Swansea were happy to cede the ball and defend in numbers, but at the start of the second half, they had a penalty shout, when Ayew went down with men at his back, but it didn't look like a foul and referee Moss didn't either.  When play saw Spurs attacking, Eriksen's cross to the left found Davies' head and he knocked the ball across goal for Son.  he took a touch, turned and shot, but it was blocked by Fernandez, with claims it was a hand used.  The arm looked stuck to his side, so there was nothing doing.

Swansea had a little spell of passing, getting Naughton in on their right to put a shot across goal that came off Davies' heel and from the corner Fer headed over, but a free-kick had been given for Routledge's obstruction of Vorm.  Eriksen picked out a pass to Son in the box and he tried to slip in Dele, but the ball was intercepted.  The number of white shirts was proving difficult to get through and resorting to long range shots didn't work, with most of them being off target.

Changes were made to try and force the game, with Janssen on for Sissoko and Nkoudou on for Davies, which nearly paid off when Alli lifted the ball over his head to play a return pass to Janssen, but Fabianski raced out to close him down and following the clash, he had to be stretchered off.  Son got the ball after a long throw and laid it on for Alderweireld, but his drive rose over the top.  Eriksen picked a pass into the heart of the penalty area and Alli met it with a firm header that Fabianski dived to his left to palm away.

The keeper had a strop over the manager wanting to take him off, when Spurs had a corner, but the fuss didn't help Tottenham, when Eriksen didn't beat the first man with the dead ball kick.  Spurs were toiling away and got a break at the end.  The ball popped up for Eriksen to volley at goal and a deflection took the ball left across goal, where Dele turned the ball into an empty net, with the keeper nowhere.  It hadn't looked like coming, but the goal spurred Tottenham on and Janssen immediately pulled a low save out of Fabianski with a shot on the turn inside the box. 

The delay over the keeper's injury and then the non-substitution meant seven minutes of time to be added.  In the first minute of that, Tottenham went ahead.   Eriksen played a ball into Janssen and the Dutchman's back-heel left Son with a run on Fabianski, putting a  low shot off the keeper's body and in to turn the score-line around.

And that wasn't the end of it.  Nkoudou won the ball in his own half, played it up to Janssen, who held the ball up.  With Alli in support, the pass went to him and a ball of great vision sent Eriksen through.  He turned to the right of Olsson in front of him, before slotting the ball low past Fabianski's left hand to make it 3-1.  The game was turned on its head and the legs had gone out of Swansea, as Tottenham made their class tell.

But with time left, Swansea went forward and substitute Narsingh put  a low cross into the box and Walker got there first, but his touch took the ball narrowly past the post with Vorm stranded.  But that was the last incident of the game, as Spurs sealed three points by keeping playing their game, as Swansea faded after trying to shut us out for so long.  And that is the beauty of Pochettino's tactics, as he has given the side a belief and energy to take teams to the limit with their attacking game.

And that is a great thing for Spurs fans.  No longer the easy touch and a real contender.  I'm not saying we will win it this season, but we will have a good go.  There are still points to be played for, but they are more winnable with this manager and this squad.

Stanford Rivers