Tottenham earn 4-1 friendly win over Kitchee

Fans who thought Tottenham’s season ended with the 7-1 win over Hull City were mistaken. Before holidays could commence, the team traveled to Hong Kong to take on local side Kitchee.

It was a full family affair for Tottenham too, with the whole squad traveling this week with the exception of the injured Danny Rose, Érik Lamela and Harry Winks.

Plenty of Academy kids also traveled with the first team squad as well — most notably goalkeeper Pau Lopez and Felipe Lesniak, the midfielder who delivered the assist for Harry Kane’s hat-trick against Leicester City.

The starting lineup for Friday’s matchup was primarily composed of regular starters and some other familiar faces from the typical matchday squad.

It was a traditional 4-2-3-1, with Kevin Wimmer coming in for Jan Vertonghen at centre-back. The Austrian appears to have fallen out of favor over the course of the season, so his appearance here might suggest that he still has a future with the club.

Similarly, Kyle Walker’s inclusion calls into question a lot of the rumors circulating recently about an imminent move to Manchester City. It’s possible that this is a farewell tour of sorts for the Spurs veteran however.

The attacked looked more or less typical with Vincent Janssen leading the line ahead of Christian Eriksen through the middle while Heung-min Son and Georges-Kévin Nkoudou manned the flanks.

In between, though, Moussa Sissoko and Lesniak combined for an unusual central midfield. Though that is Lesniak’s preferred position, Sissoko had not yet featured there for Spurs since his arrival last summer.

It all came together in a predictably efficient fashion however. Son started things off in the 18th minute with a fine goal.

And was followed just three minutes later with a tap in from Janssen.

Pochettino subbed off Hugo Lloris in the first half in favor of on-loan Espaynol keeper Lopez, who played through the middle of the second half. Eric Dier, Victor Wanyama, Kieran Trippier and Jan Vertonghen also came onto the pitch after half-time.

It was Kane who would come on and score less than ten minutes after his substitution in the 73rd minute.

Kitchee would enjoy a consolation goal given up by Michel Vorm, but Tottenham would have the final word when youngster Kazaih Sterling scored in stoppage time.

All in all, it was just the kind of performance you would expect against such opposition, especially from a team that finished the regular season as strong as Spurs did.

Next: Tottenham Player Review: Ben Davies

Spurs’ good-will tour of Asia begins and ends with this match against Kitchee. The team will go their separate ways for the next couple weeks before most are expected to show up for national team duty ahead of World Cup qualifiers and friendlies.