Swans get back on track
Alli’s magical strike sets up an easy night for Tottenham
BEN CABANGO put Swansea back on the title trail as they beat Coventry 1-0.
Up until the defender’s bullet header the Swans had coughed and spluttered in the wake of their shock 4-1 hammering at Huddersfield.
The deadlock was finally broken after 54 minutes, when a superb corner from Conor Hourihane allowed Cabango, above, to head home.
ROUND-UP
Callum Styles’ piledriver and Daryl Dike’s first goal for Barnsley secured their fourth straight win, defeating Stoke 2-0. Midfielder Styles smashed in from 25 yards in the ninth minute. American striker Dike came off the bench to rifle in a late second as the in-form Tykes moved towards the top six. Watford kept the heat on the top two as they piled the pressure on struggling
Blackburn manager Tony Mowbray with a 3-2 victory.
Mick McCarthy’s
Cardiff are into sixth place after they made it six wins on the spin, triumphing 2-1 to ruin Jonathan Woodgate’s first game as
Bournemouth’s permanent boss.
QPR’s four-game winning league run came to an end as they drew 0-0 at
4 0
IF JOSE MOURINHO was still confused about whether it was Dele Alli or Dele Alli’s brother on the pitch, the 24-year-old provided the perfect answer.
One brilliant goal that took everyone back to 2018 when the world was at England World Cup star Alli’s feet, and two superb assists, told Mourinho that he was back.
After taking over at Spurs, Mourinho had joked was he talking to Alli or his brother.
Mourinho had not seen the player who had previously taken the Premier League by storm. Since then Alli had drifted to the sidelines under Mourinho, who once accused the midfielder training, too showings, too injuries.
A loan move to Paris SaintGermain was close in January, but it was blocked by Spurs chairman Daniel Levy. Alli had started just one league game before last night, his only two goals coming in the Europa League. In the 10th minute, Matt Doherty’s cross came to Alli in the box. One touch and his of “lazy” many tepid many niggling brilliant bicycle the corner.
Mourinho said: “I don’t need to talk about that goal. Everyone will watch it around the world. The goal was beautiful, but the assists and hard work for the team mean more to me.”
And defender Eric Dier added: “Everyone has a short memory. Maybe they have forgotten Dele’s quality – he has reminded people.” Four minutes after 45 3 3 0 2 15 2 0 kick flew into
the break, Alli’s pinpoint cross found Carlos Vinicius, who headed home the second goal.
Then, just to wrap things up, it was Alli’s incisive pass that enabled sub Gareth Bale to ram home the third goal.
The fourth arrived as sub Dane Scarlett robbed Gustav Henriksson, and Vinicius thumped the ball home. Aged 16 years and 337 days, Scarlett was the first 16-year-old to assist a Europa League goal since Kylian Mbappe in 2015.
Mourinho added: “Dane is an incredible talent.”
TOTTENHAM (4-2-3-1): Hart 7; Doherty 7 (Lavinier 74 6), Alderweireld 7, Dier 7, Davies 7; Sissoko 7 (John 81, 6), Winks 7; Lamela 6 (Bale 68, 7), Alli 8 (Scarlett 81 6), Bergwijn 7 (Moura 68, 6); Vinicius 7. Goals: Alli 10, Vinicius 50, 83, Bale 73.
WOLFSBERGER (3-5-2): Kuttin 6; Baumgartner 6 (Giorbelidze 64, 6), Henriksson 5, Lochoshvili 5; Novak 6 (Pavelic 46, 6), Wernitznig 6, Liendl 6, Stratzing 5 (Rnic 78, 6), Scherzer 6 (Peric 64, 6); Vizinger 5 (Joveljic 46, 6), Dieng 6.