Matchday: Tottenham 1 – 0 Watford

A goal from Kieran Trippier was enough for Tottenham to win against a visiting Watford side on Sunday.

Tottenham were forced to keep Dele Alli on the bench, presumably for the same reason that he was taken out at halftime against Norwich on Tuesday. Nacer Chadli came in, starting on the left hand side of attack though switching flanks midway through the first half.

Otherwise the team looked fairly standard. Christian Eriksen again occupied the center creative role, dropping deep into midfield to retrieve the ball as Watford crowded the center of the pitch.

Well aware of the Hornet’s tendency to do just that, Mauricio Pochettino named Ben Davies and Kieran Trippier on the defensive flanks, giving them full license to get forward in attack.

Watford’s tactics made that objective fairly easy for the full-backs. With no real width to speak of outside of their own full-backs, Watford were forced to deal with a barrage of crosses from both sides of the pitch – and in particular from Trippier.

Davies was more direct. Finding so much space on the left, he was even able to get through onto Heurelho Gomes’ goal in the 31st minute, though the ex-Spurs keeper managed to get in front of the shot.

Despite that clear edge, Tottenham struggled to break through in the first half. Chadli found himself in good positions on at least two occasions but couldn’t control the ball well enough to get a shot on target.

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The match was goalless at the half, even if it was Tottenham who had the better of Watford in the opening stages. With Tottenham struggling to find any penetration and Watford struggling to get out of their own half, something had to change.

Ultimately it was Watford that blinked first. They made two substitutions for the second half in an effort to return to their more reactive, counter-attacking game, with Troy Deeney and Valon Behrami coming onto the pitch.

The moves didn’t precisely work as intended. With the midfield opened up, Tottenham found plenty more opportunities to switch play out to the flanks, putting further pressure on Watford’s weakest area.

Still, Gomes and the defenders in front of him held strong. It would take the introduction of Alli to change the tempo for Tottenham.

Just three minutes after the 19-year-old’s substitution on for Chadli, he found himself unmarked on the left and sent a clever ball across the face of goal. Perhaps inevitably, the ball found Trippier on the far end and the full-back converted his first ever goal for Tottenham.

With a 1-0 lead, Tottenham were able to slowly kill off the game in the remaining half hour. Watford’s attack looked unable to find any foothold on the game even after their halftime subs. They managed a mere three shots, none of which were on goal.

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Tottenham, on the other hand, managed a whopping 26 shots in total, 9 of which were on target. A 1-0 winning scoreline makes this match seem much tougher than it actually was.

With the win and Manchester City’s loss to Leicester earlier in the day, Tottenham go up to second. It is the club’s highest Premier League standing this far into the season ever. Even an Arsenal win over Bournemouth on Sunday morning won’t be enough to dislodge Pochettino’s boys from the penultimate spot.