Tottenham Hotspur kept their Champions League dream alive this evening after beating Inter Milan at Wembley.
The Lilywhites scored well into the second half, courtesy of substitute Christian Eriksen who continues his fine form.
The goal was enough to ensure that Tottenham go ahead of Inter on head to head via their away goal at the San Siro.
Here’s five things we learned from the game:
It’s going down to the wire
Tottenham’s qualification hopes are going down to the very last game of the group, away to Barcelona. Spurs needed a win today to go ahead of Inter on away goals, and now need to match whatever the Italians get against PSV in their last match. As PSV have already come bottom of the group, this will likely be a win. However, Barca have likewise already sealed their fate, and may play a weakened team against Spurs. Game on!
Tottenham have heart
This Tottenham side have real heart. You could see it in the sheer determination tonight. The tireless running of Harry Kane, Dele Alli, and Moussa Sissoko. The rugged challenges from Winks. The stern defending from our Belgian duo. They left it later than they would have wanted, but they stayed patient, and always had faith in themselves.
Jan is back
What a game from Jan Vertonghen tonight. For a man who has missed the last 10 games, he looked like a centre back in top form this evening, playing against one of the best strikers in the world in Icardi. Vertonghen got his foot in when needed, read the game perfectly, and narrowly missed his perfect chance to seal the points himself. What a fairy tale that would have been.
Spurs have depth this season
With the emergence of Lucas Moura, the development of Harry Winks, and the reinvention of Moussa Sissoko, Spurs have real depth this season. Poch was able to rest the likes of Son, Dier, and Eriksen, only to bring them on for a short run out when Spurs needed them most. Tottenham, for the first time in a while, have quality running down both the spine of their team, and across their bench too.
Pochettino played it perfectly
Poch was arguably man of the match tonight. He gave Lamela and Moura a chance to seal all three points, but when it wasn’t working, he wasn’t afraid of making the changes that needed to be made. Eriksen and Sonny came on with half an hour to go and used their full tanks of energy to cause real problems, eventually leading to the winning goal. Perfect management from the gaffer, ensuring his places both get a rest, the squad gets rotated, and the club get three points.
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