3 Reasons why Tottenham Hotspur won against Huddersfield
After an impressive Champions League outing against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester city, the Tottenham Hotspur squad was confident and full of energy as they took on Huddersfield in their brand new stadium. On the other hand, Huddersfield were already relegated and were hoping to spring a surprise against much superior opponents.
Mauricio Pochettino made several changes to the starting eleven that won against Manchester City. Fernando Llorente replaced the injured Harry Kane and Lucas Moura played as the second striker. Key players such as Son Heung-Min, Keiran Trippier and Toby Alderweireld were benched considering the away UCL fixture against Manchester City.
Huddersfield manager Jan Siewert made three changes to the team that was defeated 4-1 at home by Leicester City. Juninho Bacuna replaced Aaron Mooy while Alex Pritchard made way for Elias Kachunga. He also shifted Stankovic to a central defensive position with Aheame-Grant being the sole striker in the lineup.
Right from the opening minute, Tottenham enjoyed posession and encountered very little pressing from the Huddersfield midfielders while passing the ball forward. The three man defense of Davinson Sanchez, Juan Foyth and Jan Vertonghen kept pushing up their defensive line after realizing that Huddersfield were happy to sit back and defend.
Victor Wanyama broke the deadlock in the 25th minute after some good hold-up play at the edge of the box from Fernando Llorente. Two minutes later, Spurs extended their lead as Lucas Moura comfortably scored from the left flank after Huddersfield lost the ball in a dangerous position.
Tottenham kept penetrating into the opposition defence and were lucky to not concede another goal before half time. In the second half, Huddersfield played with more determination and defended astutely until the finishing moments of the game. Lucas Moura registered a hattrick and Spurs won 4-0.
Here are the 3 reasons why Tottenham won against Huddersfield:
#1. Lucas Moura’s hattrick
This was the 50th game for Lucas Moura in Tottenham colours and he marked the occasion with a beautiful hattrick in front of a vibrant home crowd. He started the game along with Fernando Llorente up front but dropped deep into the midfield to create chances.
At the 27th minute, Mauso Sissoko won the ball in the left flank and played out a neat pass to Lucas Moura who deposited the ball into the net with a low drive. In the second half, he combined well with Llorente who came close to scoring twice.
Finally at the 87th minute, Huddersfield lost the ball in Tottenham’s half and Eriksen broke forward and fired in a low cross to the centre of the pitch. Lucas Moura controlled the cross brilliantly with a majestic first touch and fired the ball past the on-rushing goal keeper.
He sealed his hattrick with a powerful shot that hit the top corner of the net. This performance confirmed his presence in the starting eleven against Manchester City at the Etihad stadium.