Dier and Son put Spurs back into title contention
BURNLEY 0
SPURS 2
Dier (66), Son (77)
TOTTENHAM trimmed Chelsea’s lead at the summit to seven points by becoming just the fourth top- flight side to win at Burnley this season.
Spurs were 13 points adrift prior to kick- off against Southampton two weeks ago, but Chelsea’s loss at Crystal Palace, coupled with this success for Tottenham, will have given Mauricio Pochettino’s side hope that the title’s destination is far from a foregone conclusion.
After Harry Winks had been stretched off with an injury at half- time, Eric Dier and sub HeungMin Son scored in the space of 11 minutes to prevent Burnley from getting the point they needed to equal their highest ever Premier League haul.
Spurs were unbeaten in their previous six topflight meetings without Harry Kane, but this was the first time summer signing Vincent Janssen had been entrusted with a league start in 2017.
Tottenham failed to threaten until the 32nd minute, when Dele Alli spurned a glorious opening as he fired over from eight yards after some good work by Christian Eriksen.
That was as close as either side came during the first half as Spurs’ rhythm was disrupted by the loss of two central midfielders in the space of four minutes, as Victor Wanyama was forced off before Winks suffered a nasty looking injury, jarring his left leg on the turf during a tackle.
A stretcher took him off during the half- time period and Pochettino rejigged his system for the second half by pushing Dier further forward.
There was an immediate improvement as a combination of Tom Heaton and Stephen Ward kept out Janssen and sub Moussa Sissoko, while Ben Davies also drew Burnley’s goalkeeper into a decent stop.
This might have been the game where either
Janssen or fellow summer signing Sissoko could kickstart their Tottenham careers, but both flattered to deceive and the latter showed no poise as he lashed the loose ball into the stand.
Thankfully for the Spurs fans housed there, Dier displayed plenty of control with a measured finish in the 66th minute.
Eriksen’s corner was cleared to Dier by Jeff Hendrick and the England international steadied himself to place his effort past Scott Arfield on the line at the far post.
A brief Burnley response looked likely as England international Michael Keane and Arfield fired attempts over, but a second Spurs goal 11 minutes after the opener put the result to bed.
Eriksen’s pass over the top released Alli and he rolled a glorious pass across for Son to apply a simple finish.
Alli might have had a hat-trick with another two efforts going narrowly wide of either post, before the Spurs players retreated to the dressing room at the full-time whistle with even better news awaiting them from Stamford Bridge thanks to Crystal Palace’s shock win.