JUVE BETTER BELIEVE IT
Poch: We’re feeling right at home now in Fortress Wembley ...so bring it on!
THERE will be plenty of time for glitz and glamour at Wembley this week.
Juventus’ visit in the Champions League on Wednesday will see to that.
So for now a straightforward and comfortable victory was just what Tottenham needed as two goals from Son Heung-min bagged them three very welcome Premier League points.
Welcome because they ramped the heat right up on Spurs’ rivals for a top-four finish.
They are now just a point behind Manchester United, who began the day in second place.
But perhaps even more crucially they are five clear of fifth-placed Chelsea, who face leaders Manchester City at the Etihad today.
The performance was described as good and very professional by boss Mauricio Pochettino — and no one who saw it will have disagreed.
His side were always in control and even before Son put them ahead in the 27th minute anything other than a Spurs win looked unlikely.
“Our objective was to win the three points and we have them, and we are in a good position in the table,” said Pochettino.
They would have been ahead much sooner had Huddersfield keeper Jonas Lossl not produced a fine save from point-blank range to deny Harry Kane.
Lossl was then relieved to see Christian Eriksen’s free-kick hit the outside of a post after taking a wicked deflection off Jonathan Hogg.
Eriksen’s low drive was straight at the Terriers No.1 but it was only a matter of time before he would be beaten.
Sure enough, Kane chested the ball into Dele Alli’s path and the midfielder split the visiting defence with a delicious pass.
Son ran on to it, shimmied round Lossl and slotted home into the opposite corner of the Huddersfield net. Kane was unlucky not to make it 2-0 soon after the break when Chris Schindler got in a good block.
And Son was even more unfortunate not to win a penalty when Terence Kongolo tried to wrestle him to the ground.
However, he was smiling again in the 54th minute when Kane picked up on Rajiv van La Parra’s dithering and showed some wonderful vision with a cross which picked out his team-mate.
Kane had spotted Son heading for the far post, and he duly nodded home the simplest of finishes.
Pochettino added: “Son is one of the players from whom you always expect amazing things.
“He is a talented player, consistent, very professional and of course with a player like him or Harry, they work a lot for that, and it’s payback. “I’m so happy for him and the team because his two goals helped us to be in a very good position in the table now.”
Huddersfield manager David Wagner didn’t pull any punches with
his assessment.
“At the end we have to say clearly that this was a deserved defeat,” he said. “We were beaten by quality.”
That quality will get a greater test in midweek and Pochettino’s focus immediately switched to Juve.
“It’s important, it’s a massive competition,” he said, “but we fought a lot in the last few years to go to play these types of games.”
Tottenham are unbeaten since mid-december and they have not been beaten at Wembley, since their 3-2 Carabao Cup defeat by West Ham in October.
“I am so pleased,” said Pochettino. “It is a fantastic run at home. We can say Wembley is our home and that is so important for the team.
“When we played here last season in the Champions League or Europa League it was a strange feeling, a difficult feeling, but for our fans and us it’s like our home and the team feels good.”
They will feel even better if they extend that run on Wednesday.