Tottenham Hotspur vs. Reading: Mission accomplished

Spurs capped off a successful holiday period on New Year's Day, beating Reading comfortably at White Hart Lane. Outside of the opening couple of minutes and a rough spell at 2-1 up, Tottenham Hotspur were the superior team throughout and looked comfortable in their 3-1 victory.

A questionable free kick lead to Reading's opening goal. Pavel Pogrebnyak scored four minutes in, putting in a rebound off an Ian Harte free kick that struck the post. Reading's lead didn't last long, with Michael Dawson equalizing 10 minutes in. Gylfi Sigurdsson, who entered the lineup for the suspended Gareth Bale, was fantastic with his set piece delivery all day and found the head of Dawson to level the score at 1-1.

Emmanuel Adebayor put Spurs in front shortly after the break, nodding in a cross by Aaron Lennon. Reading had a solid spell not long afterwards and looked very capable of firing their way back into the match until Clint Dempsey put things to rest, scoring on a deflected shot in the 79th minute.

Tottenham have moved up into 3rd place, and will need a loss by Chelsea to stay there. They close the holiday period with three wins and a draw from four matches.