Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 Huddersfield Town: Short-handed Spurs take care of business

Huddersfield Town will go down as one of the worst teams in Premier League history, so there really would have been no excuse had Spurs not beaten them, but the Lilywhites did their job.

Tottenham beat Huddersfield Town 4-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday. It was a comfortable win for the North Londoners, who used two separate two-goal flurries to put the game out of reach.

The win means that, for the time being, Spurs move back above Chelsea and into third place as they continue to push for a finish in one of the Champions League places.

Injuries and fatigue forced Mauricio Pochettino to rotate the lineup quite a bit from Tuesday’s win over Manchester City. Kane, Dele, and Harry Winks were unavailable due to ailments, while Son Heung-min, Kieran Trippier, Danny Rose and Toby Alderweireld were given rests. Kyle Walker Peters, Lucas Moura, Fernando Llorente, Victor Wanyama, Ben Davies, Davinson Sanchez, and Juan Foyth all came into the team.

Despite the early kickoff time, the Tottenham Hotspur stadium was lively once again. Spurs fans were in good voice for the third ever senior match at their new home.

Huddersfield are already relegated, but they didn’t come to North London to lay down, at least not initially.

The Terriers resisted Spurs well for about 20 minutes. Then, the home side gave their dominance of possession some worth as they scored two quick goals.

The first came on 24 minutes when Wanyama ran onto a pass from Davies that had been shielded off by Llorente. The Kenyan international displayed a surprising bit of skill as he deftly dribbled by Ben Hamer and rolled one into the open net. It was the first goal of the season and a great moment for Wanyama, who has struggled with injuries over the past couple seasons.

Spurs added a second just under three minutes later. Foyth won the ball in midfield, and then Moussa Sissoko provided a delicate through ball forward for Lucas, who easily smashed the ball past the onrushing keeper.

Tottenham almost added to their lead moments into the second half. Foyth played a brilliant chip forward to Llorente in the box, but the Spaniard’s volley came back off the crossbar.

With nothing but pride to play for, Huddersfield didn’t really push the game too much. They sat back and let Pochettino’s team have the ball, as the visitors seemed to be content to return home without receiving too much of a drubbing.

Llorente looked solid in Kane’s absence. He contributed positively to Spurs’ build-up, and he had a few headers that flashed just wide of the posts.

Huddersfield almost got back into the game in the 75th minute, but it was Steve Mounie’s turn to put a header just wide.

Juninho Bacuna tested Hugo Lloris from a free kick a few minutes later, but the Frenchman slid over to save. Spurs countered after that sequence, but Eriksen’s eventual effort was deflected and hit the post.

Tottenham’s dominance became a bit lesser as the second half went on. Still, they kept the clean sheet and added to their lead twice before the final whistle.

Walker-Peters dribbled out of trouble and started a passing sequence that ended with Moura slotting an Eriksen cross into the goal.

The last kick of the game was the hat-trick goal from the Brazilian. Son pushed down the right and played one through for Lucas, who smacked the ball into the netting once again. It was three goals and three impressive finishes for Moura.

Next up for Tottenham: a massive second leg against Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday.