Straightforward Tottenham win is ideal warm-up for Europe test

It was hard not to imagine what Wembley will be like on Wednesday evening for one of the most pivotal games of the Mauricio Pochettino era while in the meantime, Tottenham Hotspur picked off their Premier League opposition with the assurance of a side who knew bigger challenges lie ahead.

Their Champions League second leg round of 16 tie against Juventus next week is the test that you feel could define Pochettino’s season – at a stadium they have not lost in since August against a club that have made two of the last three finals in the competition. By the end of this game against Huddersfield, Pochettino was able to substitute his goalscorer, Heung-min Son, yet another one of his match-winners who have taken the club into Europe’s elite.

Pochettino said Spurs will approach the Juventus game as they did the first leg in Turin. “We need to feel freedom, to be happy and enjoy the game. We have fought a lot to try to be there and play in these sort of games.”

As he spoke, Juventus were just beginning their Serie A game against Lazio in Rome, a more exacting test than Huddersfield who conceded 75 per cent of the possession to the home team and forced just one save of note out of Hugo Lloris. Spurs were never stretched apart from a brief moment at the start of the second half when substitute Tom Ince stung the hands of Lloris with a shot. Harry Kane promptly went down the right wing and created the second goal for Son.

Juventus scouts will see that Spurs’ big hitters are in form: Kane, Son, Christian Eriksen, and Dele Alli who made the first for his Korean teammate. Defensively, without the injured Toby Alderweireld, Davinson Sanchez and Jan Vertonghen, they dominated.

David Wagner picked the moment that Kane created Son’s second as a defining point in the game. “The second goal shows everything about the game,” the Huddersfield manager said. “We have a clear-cut chance and we could get a little bit out of the game and then we have seen an unbelievable cross from Kane. This goal says everything about the teams that met today.”

There was an unusually early tactical substitution by Wagner after 32 minutes, taking off Colin Quaner, a German winger signed from Union Berlin a year earlier, who threw his gloves to the ground in anger.

“I am totally sure he was angry about his performance – he has every reason to be angry about his performance,” Wagner said. “He is human, it’s something we accept. Today wasn’t his day.”

Huddersfield have two critical home games coming up against Swansea and Crystal Palace and Wagner suggested that their minds had always been on them first. At the end of the game the margin from Everton in 10th to Stoke City in 19th was just seven points and, three points clear of the relegation zone, Huddersfield may well survive.

Fourth official Kevin Friend replaced referee Mike Jones who was injured beforehand and spent the game doing Friend’s job instead, seated on the touchline.

Huddersfield’s defence, which switched from four men to six when Spurs had the ball, worked for a while but eventually Alli picked out the run of Son and Christopher Schindler played the Spurs man onside before failing to block the shot on the line.

Huddersfield’s best period was after the break but Spurs responded almost immediately. Kane struck a perfectly weighted cross from the right that bounced up for Son to meet cleanly with his head and beat Jonas Lossl for his second. The Englishman will just have been disappointed that on this occasion he did not get one himself but greater Wembley nights lie ahead.