Swans shot down as Tottenham profit from Llorente’s happy returns
THIS was all too easy, Tottenham cruising to victory in the driving rain as goals from Fernando Llorente and Dele Alli saw Mauricio Pochettino’s team keep up the pressure on the top four.
In the process, Spurs jumped above North London rivals Arsenal and into fifth, heaping further misery on relegationthreatened Swansea who offered little as an attacking force.
New Swans boss Carlos Carvalhal has a tough job on his hands with his team rock bottom and while they did offer some improvement in the second half, the gulf in class between the two teams was more than evident as the visitors secured the three points.
Former Swan Llorente opened the scoring in the 12th minute and Alli broke away late on to put the gloss on the final scoreline.
After struggling with a heavy cold recently, Harry Kane was only among the Tottenham substitutes, Llorente making his first Spurs start in the Premier League in his place.
For his second game in charge, home boss Carvalhal replaced the banned Kyle Naughton with club captain Angel Rangel and reverted to a five-man defence in a bid to keep Spurs quiet.
On a filthy night in South Wales, Storm Eleanor swept the Liberty Stadium before kick-off but the wet conditions were no barrier to a fast Tottenham start as they totally dominated the ball.
The visitors had more than70percentof possession in the first 15 minutes and it was no surprise when they moved ahead, Llorente glancing a header home from Christian Eriksen’s set-piece.
Llorente looked offside, but the goal was a fair reflection of Tottenham’s dominance.
Swansea could barely get out of their own half, Alli firing wide and the home fans chanting for chairman Huw Jenkins and the club’s American owners to sell up. Swansea had improved slightly going into half-time, but any upturn in their performance was as much down to Tottenham’s sluggishness as anything they’d done themselves. Nathan Dyer did sprint clear and shoot wide – Son Heung-Min and Alli having away chances – before Spurs centrehalf Davinson Sanchez was lucky to escape a red card. After receiving a first-half booking for fouling Jordan Ayew, Sanchez somehow escaped a second yellow when wiping out Martin Olsson just before the hour mark.
By that stage Swansea had introduced winger Luciano Narsingh for the injured Rangel, switching to four at the back while Sanchez was then replaced by a clearly worried Pochettino.
Swansea had their chances. Narsingh broke away and tested Hugo Lloris from a sharp angle, then Ayew rounded Tottenham’s French goalkeeper but couldn’t slot home.
It allowed Tottenham off the hook and they capitalised fully.
Son put a side-footed effort narrowly wide, but there was still time for Alli to apply the coup de grace when he poked home the second. (© Daily Telegraph, London)