4  Benoit ANGBWA ( 3 Ali GADZHIBEKOV 78)
13  Rasim TAGIRBEKOV
  8  JUCILEI Da Silva (c)
24  Dele ADELEYE

37  EWERTON Almeida Santos
25  Odil AHMEDOV
29  Abdul RAZAK
99  Islamnur ABDULAVOV (19 Lacina TRAORE 46)

28  Serder SERDEROV ( 2 Andrey YESCHENKO 56)
14  Pavel SOLOMATIN
 

Unused subs: 
22  Mikhail KERZAKHOV
  5  Gia GRIGALAVA
10  Alan GATAGOV
15  Vadim DEMIDOV
 

25  Hugo LLORIS

  2  Kyle WALKER
  4  Younes KABOUL (c) (20 Michael DAWSON 72)
12  Vlad CHIRICHES
35  Zeki FRYERS

30  SANDRO
19  Mousa DEMBELE

33  Erik LAMELA (22 Gylfi SIGURDSSON 72)
14  Lewis HOLTBY (23 Christian ERIKSEN 78)
21  Nacer CHADLI 

18  Jermain DEFOE 

Unused subs: 
24  Brad FRIEDEL
16  Kyle NAUGHTON
35  Harry KANE
  9  Roberto SOLDADO

If Spurs were a long way from home, then a 1,000 miles from Dagestan didn't exactly make this a home match for Anzhi Makhachkala, who los tout to Spurs 0-2 in this Europa League Group K meeting.

With a much changed side from the Chelsea game, with another London derby against West Ham due on Sunday, Spurs looked like a team that was strong enough to win this match against an Anzhi side that had been shorn of its world superstars by the owner's insistence in cutting back his funding of the club to the bone.  With Chiriches, Fryers, Chadli, Lamela and Lewis Holtby starting, there was a presence of fringe players, but strong ones at that.

Spurs held the ball for the first 90 seconds without Anzhi getting a touch, with their first being a block in their own penalty area from Kyle Walker's cross. When Anzhi did get the ball, they looked to hit Spurs on the break and a dodgy offside stopped one early attack, with Lloris pulling out of a challenge that he might have had to make had play gone on.

While Anzhi made strides forward, they failed to get behind the back four and Vlad Chiriches had to show a bit of skill to get out of a position on the edge of his own box with two opponents around him. It took until the 14th minute, when Sandro hit a shot from outside the box, that Tottenham got one on target, with Defoe shooting wide left from the right of the D a minute before.

It was cold enough for the home substitutes to have woollen blankets over their knees and the Anzhi fans tried to keep warm by making some noise. Their players on the pitch were being given a little bit of a run around, as Spurs retained possession, but they really needed to make something from it. There was a quick break on their left wing that saw Serderov break into the box to be stopped by Sandro and a dive out at his feet by Hugo Lloris.

Just after the half hour mark, Lewis Holtby tried a curling shot from outside the box that the keeper punched away. It was a precursor to the first goal of the game, with a move where the ball was worked from left to right with Holtby creating the shooting chance for Jermain Defoe to fire it into the roof of the net from eight yards out. It took 33 patient minutes, but it was worth waiting for.

A straightforward move down the right saw Walker pull a low ball square into the box, where he picked out Nacer Chadli, who side-footed past the keeper from eight yards out to double the lead in the 39th minute. Walker was well picked out by a Holtby pass from the centre circle and in lots of space, he did well to produce a measured pass on a dodgy pitch to make the goal.

Taking the game up to half-time with a period of possession, Tottenham had controlled the first half, with Anzhi only fleetingly threatening, leaving a massive 74% against the possession stats for the Lilywhites.

With Anzhi bringing on lanky Ivorian striker Lacina Traore at half time, the Russian side picked up their play a bit and the forward sent Eschenko away on the left. His low cross to the near post had to be kicked away by Lloris and then the Spurs keeper pushed over a cross from Solomatin that swerved in on goal at the last minute. Spurs were getting caught in possession and Anzhi broke on goal, with Solomatin threw an almighty dive when in the box against Kaboul, but didn't even get spoken to by the referee. It was Kaboul's last involvement, as he went off injured to be replaced by Michael Dawson, with Lamela coming off and Sigurdsson on. Eriksen replaced Holtby and Anzhi made another change, but there was little to comment on in the remainder of the match. Defoe blasted one over and then Solomatin hit a shot from the right side 22 yards out, which Lloris had to dive to push out wide to his right.

The second half had seen Anzhi get more physical and Spurs get a little less willing to get involved, but there was not an over-riding need to press on further, with the main issue being to get through the game without any more injuries. Chadli's pass to free Defoe in the box on the left, saw the little forward take the ball away from the keeper, but he played a short pass for Chadli to shoot and the defender got there first.

The Spujrs defence looked better as the game went on, with Fryers looking more assured, as did Chiriches in the middle of the back four. Not that they were stretched that much, leaving Spurs 2-0 winners against a side who promised little and delivered less.

A good performance, which ensured a comfortable win in the end.  One more win and Spurs are virtually through to the knock out stages, which will allow AVB an opportunity to give our youngsters a go in the remaining matches to rest the stars for the Premier League and the latter parts of this competition.

James Martindale