Paulinho Scores Winner In Added Time For Tottenham At Cardiff

It took a late, late goal by Paulinho, two minutes into added time for Tottenham to defeat a determined Cardiff City team. After dominating the match it looked as if Spurs were going to let two points slip away but the win takes them level on points with Arsenal at the top of the Premier League.

Paulinho scored his first PL goal for Spurs. [@edgey642]

Cardiff City 0  Tottenham Hotspur 1

Scorer: Paulinho

Team: Lloris; Walker, Dawson, Vertonghen, Naughton; Dembele, Paulinho; Townsend (Kane), Eriksen (Holtby), Sigurdsson (Lamela); Soldado  Subs: Friedel, Chiriches, Fryers, Sandro

Kyle Naughton started in place of the injured Danny Rose, the only change from the team which defeated Norwich last weekend. The other injury concern, Mousa Dembele had recovered and was able to start alongside Paulinho. Vlad Chiriches who has been granted his work visa was on the substitutes bench along with Erik Lamela but with Jermain Defoe picking up an injury, Harry Kane replaced him on the bench.

In a first half which Tottenham dominated in terms of possession and chances, it started and ended with two moments of high drama surrounding their French international goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris. Cardiff started quickly and after five minutes Naughton was put under pressure at left back by Craig Bellamy and conceded possession which former Tottenham loanee, Fraizer Campbell, pounced on forcing Lloris to come out to the edge of his area where he saved the ball low down with Campbell about to strike. The question was – did Lloris handle the ball outside the area? Play was waved on but it was a very close call and if he had been penalised, Lloris would have been sent off. It looked as if he handled the ball on the line of his 18-yard box but Cardiff felt they should have had the decision.

After forcing Marshall into a number of saves and blocks, Spurs had another close call when Lloris conceded a needless corner in added time at the end of the half. From their first corner, Cardiff had the ball in the net but the referee had blown up for a foul on Dawson and possibly on Lloris.

Spurs’ best chances fell to Roberto Soldado after good play by Andros Townsend and Kyle Walker but Marshall dived low to save. Christian Eriksen was a constant threat and he troubled the defence on a number of occasions with his shooting – Marshall saved an effort from 30-yards after 14 minutes. He threatened again five minutes later when Walker played Soldado in – his shot was blocked but fell to Eriksen who forced the goalkeeper into another save. Townsend had a shot held by the goalkeeper.

Cardiff worked hard and pressured the Spurs defenders whenever they could with both Naughton and Walker getting caught in possession. Cardiff threatened when they broke at pace but appeared reluctant to shoot when in a position to do so.

It was a competitive contest with both sides committed to the tackle but had a similar pattern to last weekend’s game against Norwich where Spurs frequently regained possession on the halfway line to rebuild their attacks. The major difference was that Cardiff were much more competitive in the defensive third and threatened more when they broke in attack.

The second half was similar to the first – after a bright early start by Cardiff when Lloris had to dive low to collect a dangerous cross, Tottenham took control against a battling home team. For almost half an hour Spurs created chance after chance but were unable to find their goalscoring touch with Marshall continuing in impressive form. Sigurdsson hit the bar with a shot after 50  minutes and when Soldado met the rebound, it looked like a certain goal until Marshall got his feet to the ball to clear. Paulinho shot over a minute later and then Soldado got to a Naughton cross but the goalkeeper made a great save although the Spurs striker was given offside.

On 56 minutes Sigurdsson played in Paulinho whose shot was saved low by the goalkeeper at his near post. Spurs dominated possession but Cardiff looked to threaten on the break. After 62 minutes Townsend was brought down but the free-kick hit the wall and Dembele’s follow up shot didn’t trouble Cardiff. Naughton shot over but then he made a mistake in defence but the Cardiff substitute, Odemwingie, curled his shot wide.

After dominating play for so long with quick passing football, the game became more scrappy in the final 15 minutes and as Spurs played the ball longer, it played into the hands of Cardiff who were happy to clear it from their penalty area.

As the game went into added time it appeared that Spurs had missed their chance of claiming all three points and Cardiff were going to take  a deserved point for their dogged performance. Spurs play had lost it accuracy and was becoming more desperate but on 92 minutes, two of Andre Villas-Boas’ substitutes combined to set up the chance for Paulinho. Erik Lamela won a challenge in the air on the right, Lewis Holtby collected the ball and played it forward for Lamela. The Argentine got behind the defence and crossed to the near post where Paulinho was waiting and under pressure back-heeled it beyond the reach of a despairing Marshall.

Tottenham deserved the points for their possession and chances created. They matched Cardiff’s endeavour throughout but the home team can feel disappointed that they were unable to hold tout hrough those final minutes and will feel aggrieved at the decisions surrounding Lloris in the first half.