Ledley King (groin), Younes Kaboul (knee) and Luka Modrić (appendicitis) underwent operations at the beginning of the week and Steven Pienaar (concussion) and Alan Hutton (who knows what) were ruled out late on, but on the positive side Jonathan Woodgate was in the squad for the first time in a over a year and was joined on the bench by new signing Bongani Khumalo.
The system was very similar to the home game against Blackburn: two central midfielders (Jermaine Jenas and Wilson Palacios), two up front (Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe), a left-winger (Aaron Lennon) and Rafael van der Vaart nominally on the right, but free to roam, though not as much as he did at White Hart Lane.
The only goal of the game came after three minutes when Van der Vaart lofted a ball in to Crouch in the box and he towered above Christopher Samba and headed in. Blackburn created more chances in the first half, Crouch clearing a Junior Hoilett shot from a few yards out and Heurelho Gomes tipping a bouncing volley over the bar from the same player. David Dunn also put a couple of long-range efforts wide, while Tottenham created little.
After half-time Spurs tightened up and threatened to score a second. Lennon ran 70 yards with the ball and laid it perfectly into Defoe’s path, but Paul Robinson got down low and made a good save. Still, Defoe probably should have scored. Robinson made another good save, from a 20-yard Lennon strike shortly after.
Míchel Salgado whipped a cross in and Gomes made a cracking save from Diouf and Gomes kept a Morten Gamst Pedersen free-kick out after Vedran Ćorluka had foolishly brought down Hoilett, Blackburn’s best player on the night, on the edge of the box.
In stoppage time Samba had a free header, but an unwitting Jenas got in the way and Gomes made a good catch, as he did throughout the game. It was three points well earned with a lot of good performances, especially from Van der Vaart who did a lot of the work Modrić normally does.
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