Tottenham Hotspur took care of business on the road against bottom-of-the-table Huddersfield Town, riding the wave of a Harry Kane brace to take all three points, 2-0, at Kirklees Stadium.

The match started with Spurs conceding possession to Huddersfield Town for the better part of ten minutes, almost as if they were waiting for the moment to strike. The first chance of the match came on a beautiful run by Danny Rose, attempting a diving header that went just wide. Danny wanted a foul but there looked to be minimal contact on the play. Not long after Danny’s chance, Kane broke free on a counter attack and fired one from about 12 yards out, but Huddersfield keeper Jonas Lossl was up to the challenge to deny the English International and keep the score level.

Spurs continued to let Huddersfield have the ball, picking their spots to force turnovers into chances. Their persistence paid off in the 25th minute after a turnover in midfield allowed Lucas to lead a break, dumping the ball off to Kieran Trippier after he had a minor penalty shout, but Trips’ cross was inch perfect and found the head of Harry Kane, pounding the ball down into the net. Spurs led 1-0 even with only 25% of the possession.

Huddersfield wouldn’t sit back and take it, though. After a stoppage of play to tend to an injury, the home side had a corner kick end up about 25 yards out. Chris Lowe fired a low curling volley that, on any other day, finds the lower corner. Paulo Gazzaniga, who has had a very hot hand in net for Spurs, made a wonderful diving stop to deny what would have been a surefire goal of the season contender to keep his clean sheet.

Spurs turned it on after the big save, breaking free with Son Heung-Min and Rose on the left side. A little one-two combo and Rose was on net, only to be taken down for a penalty. Kane stepped up to the spot and blasted home the freebie, making it 2-0 and giving him a brace on the day just 35 minutes into the match.

Huddersfield got one final chance to get on the scoresheet in stoppage time. Depoitre received a great cross about 12 yards out, hitting a near perfect volley that beat everyone except the crossbar. The shot rattled off of the the bottom of the bar away from goal and eventually cleared out by Spurs’ defense.

Spurs made a couple of changes at the half, bringing on Harry Winks and Victor Wanyama to take over in midfield. Mousa Dembele, more than likely being saved for Champions League midweek, took a seat along with an injured Jan Vertonghen, though let’s all hope that injury isn’t serious.

Spurs spent most of the first twenty minutes of the second half playing the same way that they did in the first half, opting to sit back and concede possession, only striking when necessary. Lucas and Sonny both had opportunities after the 60th minute when the game started to get a little loose with fouls, but a shot over the crossbar and a bullet into the stomach of Lossl was all they could muster up.

Truth be told, there was very, very little of note to even discuss with the second half. Huddersfield had a couple of half-chances that they messed up while Spurs were happy to just force turnovers and keep them away from the final third. Huddersfield simply had no key to unlock the tight defense. Kane’s brace ended up being good enough as Spurs took home all three points, 2-0.

Thoughts on the Match

• All the good stuff came in the first half. Lucas again was threatening, helping lead to that first goal.
• This was an atypical Spurs match. They let Huddersfield do what they wanted until they got to the final third, then sprung into action.
• Kane is looking like himself more and more each week. Today he manhandled the Huddersfield defense.
• In a match where attacking options were limited, rolling out just Kane, Sonny, and Lucas was enough to get the job done and let the midfield and defense wipe out Huddersfield.
• Have we turned “Dier gives the ball away” into a drinking game yet? I feel like we’re getting to that point.
• Dembele getting an entire half’s rest means he’s a lock to start mid-week against Barca.
• Let’s give some love to Gazzaniga. He was brilliant with his saves today, especially that ridiculous curler by Lowe.
• I’m pretty sure we all could have taken a nap in the second half and had missed absolutely nothing.
• Three points. Bring on Barcelona.