Some thoughts on Spurs’ 1-0 victory over Bournemouth:

– Match winner Christian Eriksen has been directly involved in six goals so far this season.

It wasn’t a pretty game, nor was it one in which our lads showed off their footballing prowess, but it was however a massively important win for Mauricio Pochettino’s side on Saturday afternoon against Bournemouth. There was no underlining the importance of our victory over the cherries on Saturday afternoon, our first league win at Wembley was finally achieved with a dominant display over the Dorset club. Despite having 73% of possession it was a far from straight forward game against Eddie Howe’s energetic side, a magnificent reflex save from Lloris and a dangerous chance for Stanislas saw the cherries have the best chances in the first half. Harry Kane could well have converted Eriksen’s brilliant pass just after the half hour mark were it not for an alert Asmir Begovic, as he capped off a quiet first half. The second half was started with real intent from Spurs, an intent which saw them take the lead just two minutes after the restart. When, a block by Simon Francis fell perfectly at the feet of Eriksen, who stroked the ball past Begovic from the edge of the penalty area, to put us ahead. It could and most probably should have been more, as Spurs continued to hog possession for the remainder of the half. Bosnian international Asmir Begovic denying Kane with fine saves in quick succession on the hour mark, as we continued to look for that illusive second goal, Begovic was to make four saves in the second half. Former Spurs favourite Jermaine Defoe was brought on late in the half to bolster the cherries attack, Defoe forcing Lloris into making an important save at his near post on 78 minutes.

A good team move towards the latter stages of the game almost saw Dier seal victory were it not for a valiant block by Cook. Then, deep in additional time the newly introduced Nkoudou was played through on goal by Sissoko. The Frenchman was brought down on the edge of the box by Begovic though the referee waved play on, Winks’ effort from a tight angel sailed high over the crossbar. As the whistle blew for full time, I was sat in my seat relieved that the final Wembley jinx had been broken, and that we had secured that vital win which leaves us in a healthy third place in the table. It’s a real privilege to watch our blossoming team, that’s five wins on the bounce now, ahead of Tuesdays glamour tie against Real Madrid. The lads dug in deep today and achieved the primary objective, yes it may only have been 1-0 but had Bournemouth come at us more when they were behind, then I think we’d have got a couple more against them on another day. Pochettino’s side kept things nice and simple today, they kept the ball attacked when they needed to and defended almost impeccably. Match winner Christian Erisken will have stolen the headlines with his classy winner, but the player who really stood out for me was the brilliant Jan Vertonghen, the central defender switched to left back against Bournemouth. And the Belgian put in a brilliant shift, everything from his tackling to his forward runs and crossing was top notch. At times it felt like he was playing like an out and out winger, he really is such a versatile and important player.

I also thought Winks had a good game today in the centre of the park, he was very creative from deep. And also Kieran Trippier really impressed, both solid and a real attacking threat from the right back. On to Tuesday now, and what a game it will be! COYS