Eriksen back on form with double for Pochettino’s pass masters
ONWARD Christian Eriksen and the seasonal revival of Tottenham’s creative Dane offers a beam of winter hope to Mauricio Pochettino. Eriksen struck twice against Hull and was agonisingly close to a first Spurs hat-trick when his curling free kick was tipped on to a post by goalkeeper David Marshall and dropped for Victor Wanyama to grab the third. He has five goals in his last four Premier League games after a subdued start to the campaign and his influence was vital against Hull because, despite the margin of victory, the Londoners were not at their most fluent. Indeed, anxiety was creeping when he tucked away his second from a low cross by Kyle Walker. Pochettino might have been feeling the nerves, too. As soon as it hit the net, he darted down the tunnel in search of the toilet. ‘It was cold and I had been drinking lots of water,’ shrugged the Spurs boss. Hull’s fight, too, had disappeared down the pan. Very little is going right for Mike Phelan’s side on the road. This is six straight defeats away from home and their fans, far from East Yorkshire on a cold and damp night, vented their frustration with an X-rated song about the quality of the football they are watching. For Spurs, three points kept them in touch with their rivals in the top four as they reacted to Sunday’s defeat at Manchester United. ‘We left some points at Old Trafford and it was important to respond and win well,’ said Eriksen. Burnley are at the Lane on Sunday and Pochettino knows it was this point 12 months ago when his team started to stitch together a sequence of results to hoist them into the title race. In the absence of Mousa Dembele, out with a foot injury, Pochettino reverted to playing three at the back and was rewarded with a clean sheet and the first two goals created by his wing-backs, who excelled. Danny Rose made the opener, bursting down the left on the end of a 30-pass period of possession and cutting the ball into the path of Eriksen, who breezed into the box undetected and lashed a finish high into the net with a swipe of his left boot. ‘He was aggressive in possession,’ said Pochettino of Eriksen. ‘That’s what we want from our players. I’m pleased for him because he’s working hard to improve and it’s important that not only our strikers score.’ Hull are leaky at the back and confidence is low, and Phelan’s options are severely limited. They have a fighting spirit, forged on chaos behind the scenes, although the squad is ill-equipped for the struggle ahead both in terms of numbers and quality. Phelan’s experience and fuss-free approach is another asset. Whether these things are enough to survive remains to be seen. ‘The result was harsh but we’re staying positive,’ said Phelan. ‘We haven’t laid down, we created chances. When we went in onedown I never felt as though we were out of the game. I felt there would be a chance and if we’d take it we had a game on. But quality came through for Tottenham.’ Hull’s best chance came at 1-0, early in the second half when Jake Livermore broke quickly and was denied twice in front of goal, firstly by Rose and the then by the boot of goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Soon after, Hull went two behind when Eriksen tapped in from Walker’s cross. Even after the free-kick which led to Wanyama’s simple goal, Eriksen forced another save. The hat-trick proved elusive but Eriksen is back as one of Tottenham’s main men.