Tottenham Lose At Home To West Bromwich Albion

Tottenham lost their second successive home match going down to West Bromwich Albion who scored with a second half header by James Morrision at a corner.

Tottenham Hotspur 0 West Bromwich Albion 1

Scorer: Morrison

Team: Lloris; Dier, Kaboul, Chiriches, Rose; Capoue (Lennon), Dembele (Paulinho); Chadli (Soldado), Eriksen, Lamela; Adebayor Subs: (unused) Vorm, Naughton, Vertonghen, Bentaleb

Mauricio Pochettino started with an unchanged team, playing the side which drew at Sunderland, having rested all the outfield players in midweek.

It was a sluggish performance from Tottenham who dominated the possession but had little to show for it. West Bromwich Albion, on the other hand, were quicker to the ball and threatened on the counter-attack.

The Spurs play lacked pace whereas West Brom were quickly into the tackle and broke at pace when the chance presented itself. Joleon Lescott had a shot blocked by his own team mate after 10 minutes. Three minutes later, Hugo Lloris pulled off a save to deny Craig Gardner. Albion had claims for a penalty denied when the ball hit Adebayor’s hand.

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Christian Eriksen threaded a ball through for Adebayor after 35 minutes but Lescott got a touch to take the ball back to Foster. A minute later, Albion thought they had scored when poor defending allowed a high ball forward to fall to Berahino who put it into the net but was given off-side.

It was only in the final minutes of the half that Spurs threatened the Albion goal. On 42 minutes a ball from Eric Dier to Nacer Chaldli was pulled back to Eriksen whose shot was blocked for a corner. From the corner, a header by Younes Kaboul went over the bar. With a minute to the interval a cross by Eriksen was just too high for Adebayor and Chadli.

Looking for improvement in the second half, Pochettino saw nothing to encourage him and as the game wore on it became evident that Albion were the team more likely to score. Tottenham continued to be casual in possession with sloppy passing and at the back were troubled by the work and movement of the Albion strikers. In attack, Tottenham failed to trouble Foster in the visitor’s goal.

An early cross by Danny Rose was too high for Chadli and from a corner the Belgian’s header was off target. After 54 minutes Berahino brought a save from Lloris after getting away from Chiriches.

With an hour played Paulinho and Roberto Soldado were brought on but it didn’t change the pattern of play. Spurs won a free-kick in midfield and taking it quickly, Foster was troubled as Adebayor closed in but the goalkeeper recovered to get the loose ball ahead of Soldado. Spurs persisted with trying to play intricate football through a well-organised Albion defence but with no success.

On 67 minutes Paulinho wasted a good chance as Spurs broke forward. With Adebayor, Eriksen and Soldado waiting for the ball, he attempted a pass wide towards Rose but gave the full-back no chance to collect it. Two minutes later Morrison brought a low save from Lloris and then Spurs had their first attempt on target when Kaboul put a cross to the near post, Soldado got there ahead of the defender but Foster blocked the effort.

A corner in the 73rd minute proved Tottenham’s downfall. Morrison rose unchallenged to head past Lloris for a deserved goal.