Tottenham Score a Late Goal to Win 2-1 Over Watford

Two days after seeing off Norwich City 3-0 rather easily, Tottenham Hotspur would have to fight for today’s three points at Vicarage Road. A dramatic final few minutes saw Spurs win 2-1 over Watford.

What a filthy finish by Son Heung-min! A back-heel flick between Heurelho Gomes’ legs to steal two points away from 10-man Watford at Vicarage Road has pushed Tottenham into the top three.

Of course this will be moot if Manchester City wins at King Power Stadium against Leicester City tomorrow evening. But for now let’s just focus on Spurs and what this win means for Tottenham. However, before we begin, a couple of pre-game notes will set the table.

Mauricio Pochettino’s Starting XI: 3-4-2-1 formation:

Harry Kane
Dele Alli — Érik Lamela
Danny Rose — Mousa Dembélé — Tom Carroll — Kieran Trippier
Jan Vertonghen — Eric Dier — Toby Alderweireld

Substitutes on bench:

Michel Vorm
Kyle Walker
Ben Davies
Ryan Mason
Nacer Chadli
Christian Eriksen
Son Heung-min

Nope, your eyes are not deceiving you. Mauricio Pochettino did in fact change up his starting formation from a traditional 4-2-3-1 to a 3-4-2-1. Why Pochettino did this is unknown since he’s generally remained steadfast on using one system than alternating on a game-by-game basis.

Perhaps with only 48 hours to prepare for today’s game, two changes to the starting lineup and facing a team that has two equally good strikers up top, some adjustments needed to be done.

Now from the very beginning of the game, it was obvious who wanted this game more. It was clearly Watford. They had an opportunity to climb into the top four at the end of 90 minutes and made sure to start the game off at a frenzied pace.

Generally speaking, you want to set the pace of a game. Whether it’s slow and methodical or fast and chaotic. This game was the latter for nearly 20 minutes, which once again, isn’t surprising as Tottenham are more than willing to let other teams dictate the flow of the game so long as they don’t get burned because of it.

It’s less of wanting to concede an early goal, and more about conserving your energy. Remember, football matches are marathons not sprints.

By the half-hour mark, the game had slowed down considerably and Watford were already feeling it after starting the match off at 110 percent. Conceding an easy goal to Érik Lamela in the 17th minute didn’t help either when there was a mix up at midfield.

Though it should be noted, that unlike most teams who concede a goal to Tottenham this season. Watford didn’t let up on their relentless pressure even if the pace of the game was much slower. There were still chances for the Hornets and they eventually got their equalizer four minutes before half-time.

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The only thing worse than conceding right before the break for Tottenham was having to substitute Mousa Dembélé off the pitch due to another minor knock on his ankle.

At this point, it’s best to just let Dembélé rest against Everton. Or just start the game on the bench and come in late, assuming that he’s fit enough. Because to lose the Belgian international once again for a certain amount of time would be bad timing to start the New Year.

Fast forward to around the 52nd minute until the 65th minute and this is when the game would start getting chippy. In straight succession, Watford accrued four yellow cards with a straight red sandwiched in-between. It was as if Watford were willing to do whatever it took to make sure they got the go-ahead goal, even if it cost them a player just past the hour mark.

But honestly, a few of yellows had everything to do with players contesting the calls and pleading to not get booked before actually getting… you know, booked. Fortunately for Quique Sánchez Flores though, no other player was sent off and Tottenham somehow started losing composure despite having the man advantage ever since the 63rd minute.

Whether this was because Spurs wanted to play things safe or not, it almost cost them a vital win.

Thankfully that wasn’t the case and after some more hectic back and forth in the final 10 minutes, which saw Watford almost score but the ball didn’t fully cross the line. Right away, on the counterattack, Son Heung-min would catch a Kieran Trippier cross and score the game-winning goal — almost 20 or so seconds following Watford’s near-miss.

Heartbreak for one team and their home supporters. Jubilation for the away team and their traveling fans. How a game can change so quickly just like that.

Here are the final stats and post-match notes:

Full-time Stats
Watford (left) vs Tottenham (right)
9 — Total attempts — 10
1 — Attempts on target — 3
11 — Fouls committed — 13
4 — Yellow cards — 2
1 — Red cards — 0
2 — Offsides — 1
5 — Corners — 3
37% — Possession — 63%

Post-match notes:

Érik Lamela scored his third Premier League goal (8 in all competitions)
Tom Carroll earned his second Premier League start (5 in all competitions)
Son Heung-min recorded his second Premier League goal (4 in all competitions)
Son Heung-min made his fifth consecutive substitution appearance
Nacer Chadli made his fourth consecutive substitution appearance

Next: Spurs' Success Should Silence Kane Rumors

Obviously with this win, Tottenham are now sitting in third place behind Arsenal and league leaders Leicester City. The thoughts of Spurs being a top four club are in fact real. A dark horse candidate for the Premier League isn’t surprising either. The only place to go from here is just upwards.

Tottenham will continue their climb up the league table next Sunday against Everton after the the start of the New Year and the winter transfer window opening. With an opportunity to get some more reinforcements, a Spurs squad who has done exceptionally well to get this far with injuries and young players will become much better with added depth.

Tottenham Score a Late Dramatic Goal to Win 2-1 Over Watford

By Alexander Balano | Dec 28, 2015

Two days after seeing off Norwich City 3-0 rather easily, Tottenham Hotspur would have to fight for today’s three points at Vicarage Road. A dramatic final few minutes saw Spurs win 2-1 over Watford.

More from Hotspur HQ