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Tottenham’s Boxing Day Unbeaten Run Continues

By Alexander Balano

Jul 29, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; MLS All Stars defender Chad Marshall (14) of Seattle Sounders FC and Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Dele Alli (20) battle for the ball in the second half of the 2015 MLS All Star Game at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 29, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; MLS All Stars defender Chad Marshall (14) of Seattle Sounders FC and Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Dele Alli (20) battle for the ball in the second half of the 2015 MLS All Star Game at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports /
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Tottenham Hotspur’s Boxing Day unbeaten run continues for the 12th consecutive year after beating Norwich City 3-0.

The last time that Tottenham suffered a loss on Boxing Day was against Portsmouth at Fratton Park on December 26, 2003 — 12 years ago. When was the last time that Spurs lost to Norwich City in the Premier League? That would be on February 23, 2014 during the ’13-’14 season.

So what does any of these two things have to do with today’s fixture? Tottenham continue their streaks. That’s what. See, on both occasions, Spurs have done well to maintain an unbeaten streak. Something that they did very well for 14 consecutive matches this season in a very competitive Premier League. And right now, Tottenham have won two straight, with hopes of extending it against Watford on December 28.

POPULAR: If Tottenham Score First and Often, They’ll Beat Norwich

After traveling to the south coast and beating Southampton 2-0 to secure their spot in the top four heading into the Christmas period, Tottenham would face their first challenge as a top four club. Getting a victory over Norwich City on Boxing Day.

Mauricio Pochettino would not change his starting eleven after last Sunday’s win.

Starting XI (4-2-3-1 formation):
Harry Kane
Christian Eriksen — Dele Alli — Erik Lamela
Eric Dier — Mousa Dembele
Ben Davies — Jan Vertonghen — Toby Alderweireld — Kyle Walker

Substitutes on bench:
Michel Vorm
Danny Rose
Kieran Trippier
Nabil Bentaleb
Tom Carroll
Nacer Chadli
Son Heung-min

Starting XI pre-game notes:

  • December 26 is Hugo Lloris’ birthday, he’s 29-years-old
  • Dele Alli remains as Mauricio Pochettino’s attacking midfielder
  • Son Heung-min is no longer a starter due to a number of factors:
    • Son needs to be a backup striker to Harry Kane
    • Son needs to be a backup attacking mid to Dele Alli
    • Son needs to be a backup right winger to Érik Lamela (Clinton N’Jie is injured)

To start the match, it felt and looked like a tale of two halves, in the first half.

For the first 20 minutes while Norwich City certainly weren’t dominating the game by any means, they did happen to get a couple of chances to get the game’s opening goal. Two good saves by Hugo Lloris prevented the Canaries from taking an early lead.

Once it reached the 20th minute, this is when Tottenham finally awoke. Or rather, was able to start finding their groove. This doesn’t seem to be a specific type of game tactic by Mauricio Pochettino to start games off slow and then rev it up after a certain amount of time has passed.

Although it should be noted that during the beginning of the year, Spurs always started games off fast, but got tired near the end and trailed off to let their opponents equalize and steal two points from Tottenham. Perhaps with a more congested schedule to deal with, injuries happening here and there and players no longer considered 100 percent fit, it’s time to take games much slower. That is of course, once Spurs get their first goal, then they pick up the pace.

This was very evident following Harry Kane’s goal from the penalty spot in the 26th minute.

After leading 1-0 and the game reaching the half-hour mark, Tottenham’s pressure on Norwich started to grow more and more. Eventually, the Lilywhites got their second goal of the first-half thanks to another Kane goal and headed into half-time 2-0 and the momentum on their side.

Coming out of the half, Tottenham let their foot off of the pedal just a bit, not too much though. Spurs’ played at a more slower pace — methodical even, to keep themselves fit enough to close the game out and take-on any quick counterattacks that the Canaries would create.

There were only a couple more chances for Norwich in Tottenham’s defensive third but none were as close to a goal as Cameron Jerome’s non-call on a penalty that should have been given in the 66th minute.

Considering that Hugo Lloris collided with the striker while trying to punch the ball away. Not giving Norwich a penalty could have been a make-up call on an earlier miss when Russell Martin clearly leaned in with his right arm and nudged Érik Lamela’s cross away inside the penalty box.

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But whatever, continue play right? This is exactly what Tottenham did in the 72nd minute with Christian Eriksen making way for Tom Carroll.

By giving Eriksen more rest ahead of a busy holiday period and New Year approaching, it’s smart to take out Eriksen and limit how many minutes he’ll rack up. Seeing as how he’s a regular starter.

Seven minutes later, after Tom Carroll would replace Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli would take his leave too with Son Heung-min coming on.

In the 80th minute, Tom Carroll’s long-range strike — a beauty of a shot — hit the far right of the net for Tottenham’s third goal of the game and essentially put the game away. All Spurs had to do was just run out some time and make sure that Mousa Dembélé doesn’t suffer another injury setback. Therefore, in the 86th minute, Nacer Chadli would be brought on to keep Dembélé save and help clinch another win for Tottenham.

Match stats: Tottenham (left) vs Norwich (right)
15 — Total attempts — 11
10 — Attempts on target — 3
3 — Fouls committed — 13
1 — Yellow cards — 2
0 — Red cards — 0
3 — Offsides — 8
9 — Corners — 4
60% — Possession — 40%

Next: Matchday: Tottenham 3-0 Norwich

Post-game notes:

Harry Kane:

  • Harry Kane’s brace is his third multi-goal game of the season
    • Hat-trick against Bournemouth, brace against Southampton and Norwich
  • Kane has scored 11 goals in his last 12 Premier League appearances
  • Kane has scored 13 goals in all competitions (11 in Premier League, 2 in Europa League)

Son Heung-min:

  • Son Heung-min has made 15 appearances for Spurs this season (10 in Premier League, 4 in Europa League, 1 in League Cup)
  • Son has made four consecutive substitution appearances in the Premier League after starting five of six games since joining spurs

Tom Carroll:

  • Tom Carroll scored his first Premier League goal for Tottenham today against Norwich
  • This is Carroll’s second goal of the season (scored against Monaco in the Europa League)
  • Tom Carroll has made 13 appearances for Spurs in all competitions this season

Nacer Chadli:

  • Nacer Chadli has made 13 appearance for Spurs this season (12 in Premier League, 2 in Europa League, 1 in League Cup)
  • This is Chadli’s third consecutive substitution appearance in the Premier League after returning from injury

Hugo Lloris:

  • Hugo Lloris records his 7th clean sheet in the Premier League
  • This marks the second consecutive clean sheet for Lloris after he had three in a row (Everton, Sunderland, Crystal Palace)