Spurs prove far too good for Huddersfield

A first-half barrage saw Tottenham defeat Huddersfield 4-0 at John Smith’s Stadium.

Spurs’ star man Harry Kane grabbed a brace, sandwiching an effort from Ben Davies. The icing on the cake came when Moussa Sissoko bundled in a fourth in injury time for Mauricio Pochettino’s men. 

The win continued Totttenham’s superb form on the road, with their sixth away win on the trot, as they moved up to third in the table ahead of the 3pm Saturday kick-offs. 

Huddersfield began in bright fashion with an early chance for right-back Tom Smith, who forced Hugo Lloris into a save from 20 yards out, and Rajiv van la Parra having an effort blocked away by Eric Dier. 

But despite that positive start from the underdogs, they were to be humbled by Spurs in a 14-minute spell that produced three goals before half-time.  

For the opener, Huddersfield sloppily gave the ball away at the back, allowing the league’s best marksman in Kane canter onto the loose ball and into the box before unleashing a low drive to the bottom-right corner that keeper Jonas Lossl failed to get down to stop.

The second was sublime. A sequence of one-touch football from Spurs saw them tick-tack their way into the box, with five players involved in the total-football build-up, before Christian Eriksen was released on goal, Chris Lowe made a tackle on the Dane, but only succeeded in diverting the ball into the path of Davies to collect possession and rifle home into the same corner of the net that Kane had rustled minutes earlier. 

The third was an unstoppable Kane thunderbolt; the England man, surrounded by three defenders, turned, found a yard of space, and crashed his shot home to the top-left corner from just outside the area. 

Only the post prevented Dele Alli from making it four just after the half hour. More one-touch football from Spurs released Alli into the box down the right channel, where he cut inside Mathias Jorgensen, before seeing his shot rebound back off the far post.

Kane had the ball in the net for a hat-trick before the break, but this time the effort was ruled out for offside. At the other end, Huddersfield had their best opening of the half, when Laurent Depoitre broke free to smash an effort on goal from 25 yards, with the effort cannoning back off the crossbar. 

The game was, in truth, wrapped up by half-time for Pochettino’s men. The result from there out was about how much damage Spurs could do, or whether their hosts could steady the ship defensively and mange to retain enough possession to pull back some of the significant deficit they faced. A little bit of both proved to be the case as Spurs were limited to one further strike in the second period.

More chances for Spurs followed immediately after the break as they looked to turn the screw. Davies threaded a ball through for Eriksen, who pulled back for Kane, with the England international’s effort on goal blocked away for a corner. From the corner Dier flicked on towards Kane at the back post, but the striker couldn’t get a touch on it as the ball whistled by him. 

Huddersfield had steadied the tide at the back; however, and were offering much more resistance to Spurs’ irresistible trio of Kane, Alli and Eriksen - although they were still a constant threat. Eriksen broke away from Jorgensen and Jonathan Hogg after the hour, but his effort was easy enough for Lossl in nets.

The Terriers continued to offer sporadic threats on goal, with Scott Malone getting to the byline and cutting back into the box, where Elias Kachunga couldn’t leap high enough to make a connection with the cross.  

But by and large it was Spurs that continued to be more threatening of the sides, with Alli releasing Sissoko down the right and the Frenchman cutting inside past Christopher Schindler, only for his shot on goal to be tame and handily saved by Lossl.

A deserved fourth came in stoppage time when Sissoko got on the end of a cross from Davies to unleash a shot on goal, which deflected into the nets for his first Premier League goal for Spurs.

You can watch all of Tottenham’s Champions League campaign on the eir Sport package. Mauricio Pochettino’s side will face Apoel, Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid in Group H.

Image: Getty/Gareth Copley.

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