On what was a tough afternoon for Ange Postecoglou's men, they ground out a hard-fought victory away to Luton to send them top of the Premier League, at least for the next twenty-four hours!
The Lilywhites started the game on top and after eight minutes they could have easily had a hatful of goals. Richarlison squandered two golden opportunities inside four minutes, before Pedro Porro saw his shot go inches wide of the post after he went through on goal.
In first half stoppage time, the visitors were reduced to ten men after Yves Bissouma was sent off - he was shown a second yellow card for diving.
After two second half minutes, the Hatters should have taken the lead. Elijah Adebayo scuffed an effort from three-yards out, subsequently missing an open goal after a brilliant cross across the face of goal from Chiedozie Ogbene.
Just seven minutes into the second half, a quick corner was played to James Maddison, he dropped a shoulder and beat his man to find Micky van de Ven, who managed to squeeze an effort under Thomas Kaminski and into the net!
That goal ended up being the match-winner. A solid defensive display joint with a number of substitutes that helped to see out the game saw Tottenham head to the top of the league in the early kick off on Saturday.
-
Tottenham are mentality monsters
It seems like every week this is being said, but it's certainly something Ange Postecoglou has had an influence on in his three months as Tottenham head coach.
Spurs have come from behind to pick up results against Burnley, Sheffield United and Arsenal so far this season, as well as scoring a 96th-minute winner to beat Liverpool last week.
When they were reduced to ten men, many fans feared for the worst. Past Tottenham teams would have collapsed and ended up dropping points, embarrassing themselves in the process, not under Postecoglou, though.
His side dug deep, showing fight, grit and determination to travel back to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with all three points tucked under their sleeves.
Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven were major reasons for this huge result, as they produced exemplary performances in the centre of defence - the Dutchman even chipping in with his first goal for Tottenham to win the match.
The perfect game management from Postecoglou and his players. The substitutes worked a treat as the Australian reverted to a 5-3-1 formation with twenty minutes to go to see out the win.
The celebrations from the defence as Luton blazed a stoppage-time shot over the bar shows just how much this win meant for Tottenham, and so did the full time celebrations as the players rejoiced in front of the travelling supporters.
-
Luton are wasteful in attack
It was Tottenham who should have been at least two goals up inside the opening quarter of an hour, however, Luton also had their own chances which they failed to take.
Registering twelve shots on goal in the lunchtime kick off, they only managed to get two of these on target, something that must change in the near future if they are to be playing Premier League football come August 2024.
Referee John Brooks disallowed a Tom Lockyer goal after forty-minutes for a push on Cristian Romero in the build up. Michael Oliver, the VAR for this fixture, confirmed the on-field decision and upon viewing replays, there were a number of offences which would have seen the goal chalked off.
Arguably their best chance of the day fell to Elijah Adebayo on forty-seven minutes. The Englishman, who scored his first Premier League goal in Tuesday's 2-1 loss to Burnley, was unable to find the back of the net on this occasion, scuffing his effort from three yards out and missed an open goal.
Luton's main danger man and top scorer, Clinton Morris, also had a number of opportunities throughout the affair. He forced a good save from Guglielmo Vicario in the second half, but his other two efforts didn't manage to hit the target.
-
Head loss from Bissouma
The Malian has been a breath of fresh air since Ange Postecoglou took over the reigns at Hotspur Way in July.
Joining from Brighton for a total package of £35m in the 2022 summer transfer window, many viewed this as an incredible piece of business from former Director of Football Fabio Paratici at the time. However, the holding midfielder struggled during his first season in north London and was overlooked by Antonio Conte and Cristian Stellini.
After starting just one game before the first international break of that horrid season for Tottenham, Conte then publicly threw Bissouma under the bus and explained that he is "the only player that is struggling a bit with the tactical aspect."
He also had many injury struggles over the course of the season and only featured twenty-eight times in all competitions.
He was shown two yellow cards in the space of eleven minutes in the first half. One for pulling back an opposition player and the other for a blatant dive just outside the Luton penalty area - a fantastic piece of refereeing from John Brooks to spot it and a brave decision to give Bissouma his marching orders.
He's been like a new signing in the early months of this season and is Ione of the first names on the team sheet at the moment. He is essential to the team's attacking philosophy and will be a huge miss when he serves his one-match suspension against Fulham in just over a fortnight.
Tottenham fans will be hoping this is just a slight blip, and not a regular occurrence for the man who will be walking another tight rope when he returns from his ban, as he will be just one yellow card away from the threshold of five, which would see him serve another one-game ban for yellow card accumulation.
-
Tottenham are breaking records
The narrow win at Kenilworth Road means that Tottenham have now recorded their best ever start to a league campaign since 1960 - the last time they won the top flight.
Ange Postecoglou has got his side playing some incredible football and it's not as though they've had an easy start to the season. Already, they've faced three of last season's top five and also away matches at Brentford, Bournemouth, Burnley and Luton.
Sitting top of the table with twenty points from a possible twenty-four (6W, 2D), they don't look like losing at the moment and with favourable fixtures awaiting them after the international break, they could potentially be locked in to an early title race by the time the November international window comes around.
Tottenham fans will be dreaming that the Aussie is the man to finally deliver them some long-awaited silverware, after a 15-year wait...and counting.
