Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Leeds United
Now that was more like it for Spurs.
A maiden Premier League success for new coach Antonio Conte in his first Premier League match in charge at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
There may have been an element of good fortune in their winner but the natives around this part of North London will not care one jot.
For this is a welcome victory that takes them above Manchester United and just four points off a top-four spot.
Perhaps it’s not quite as bleak as some of their supporters think after all.
Highlights of the game
Conte brought Harry Winks and Japhet Tanganga into his starting XI while Harry Kane was spearheading the front line after scoring seven goals in 108 minutes for England, six more than he has netted in the Premier League all season.
Admittedly, thrashing Albania and San Marino might not equate to being back in form.
Elsewhere, Oliver Skipp was suspended, and both Giovani Lo Celso and defender Cristian Romero were ruled out, the latter after suffering a hamstring problem while on international duty with Argentina.
In what was the 100th ever meeting between the clubs, Leeds were still waiting for back-to-back wins this term following a 1-1 draw with Leicester a fortnight ago.
They handed a first top-flight start to youngster Joe Gelhardt, one of two changes with their star man Raphinha and club-record signing Rodrigo both out.
Mateusz Klich also came back into the side with Junior Firpo named on the bench, although they were again without their man frontman Patrick Bamford and Luke Ayling, due to the respective ankle and knee injuries.
Last week Conte admitted he needed time to get ideas across to his squad and particularly focused on club-record signing Tanguy Ndombele (an unused substitute here) to adapt quickly to his demands, believing that harnessing the 24-year-old talent could be crucial to reviving Tottenham’s fortunes.
He must have been tearing his hair out during the opening 45 minutes as Leeds were the much better side.
From the moment Kalvin Phillips was denied by Hugo Lloris early on, the Yorkshire side made most of the running with Stuart Dallas and Adam Forshaw both going close before Daniel James met Jack Harrison’s measured ball and beat Lloris from close range a minute before the break.
The majority of those inside this vast bowl, with its highest single-tier stand in the country, were quiet, yet the arena tells a story of the company Leeds now keep and the daunting task facing them.
That proved the case in the second half as Spurs, finally, gave their fans some Premier League highlights to savour.
After two early chances which saw Kane’s shot cannon off Illan Meslier and the lively James test Lloris again, it was all Spurs.
Son Heung-Min swivelled and smashed a shot off Diego Llorente against the crossbar and then Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg hauled the hosts level, curling the ball beyond the reach of Meslier following a clever pass from Lucas Moura.
When an Eric Dier free-kick deflected off the wall onto the post and Sergio Reguilon reacted smartly to tuck home the rebound, Spurs fans erupted.
Conte joined them in their celebrations at full-time.
They are up and running under the Italian and suddenly their world, as well as the SBOTOP Premier League betting odds, look much more favourable in N17.
Key statistics
Tottenham have won their last five home league meetings with Leeds.
They are the first team since Opta have Premier League shot data (2003-04) to go six straight halves of play in the competition without managing a single shot on target (2nd half v West Ham, both halves v Man Utd & Everton, 1st half v Leeds).
Hojbjerg has now scored as many goals in 50 Premier League appearances for Tottenham as he managed in 109 for Southampton (four). All four of his league goals for Spurs have come at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
James is the fifth player to score for both Leeds United and Manchester United in the Premier League, after Rio Ferdinand, Alan Smith, Eric Cantona and Lee Sharpe.
Marcelo Bielsa’s side have not kept a clean sheet in any of their six top-flight away matches so far.
Leeds have drawn five Premier League matches in 2021-22, as many as they did in the whole of last season.
What’s next?
Spurs are at Slovenian minnows Mura in the Europa League on Thursday and then travel to Burnley a week today (November 28). Leeds are on the south coast next weekend with a Saturday teatime trip to Brighton.
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