Rotated Tottenham, Moura top Huddersfield in BPL

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LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 13: Lucas Moura of Tottenham Hotspur celebrates after scoring his team’s fourth goal during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Huddersfield Town at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on April 13, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images) /

The Second Half

Tottenham came out aggressively to start the second-half, looking to put Town away. Just two minutes in Foyth played a nice lofting chip into Llorente who brought the ball down with his instep, turned and fired. The ball beat Hamer, but not the crossbar. Regardless it looked like Spurs would get another soon enough and this game would be over. Huddersfield felt a bit different.

Spurs were still on the front foot, when around the hour mark, Juan Foyth misplayed one of his 114 passes on the day. The ball was stolen and then Foyth committed a foul that wasn’t called at the time – Lee Mason correctly let the action play-on – that earned him a yellow. While the advantage didn’t lead to a goal, that booking and little movement seemed to open the game up.

For the next ten plus minutes Town slowly went into the ascendancy. It looked like the increased pressure and ball possession was going to pay off when Jonathan Hogg did his best Christian Eriksen impression lofting a nice cross into the box to a running Steve Mourie. Like Llorente, Mourie had the keeper beat, but his free header just went wide of Lloris’ goal.

LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 13: Hugo Lloris of Tottenham Hotspur celebrates during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Huddersfield Town at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on April 13, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) /

A few minutes later, the Terriers got as close as they would on the day. Juninho Bacuna – who was seemingly involved in all the positive moments for Town in some way – had a free kick from about 25 yards out. Bacuna beat the wall, but Lloris was able to push the ball up and off the crossbar.

If either of those chances fall for Town, the finish might have been different. Alas, this is football, and Huddersfield was made to pay for not cashing in. The reason a lot of teams don’t pressure and push in the Premier League is what happens if you do and don’t take advantage. The space opened-up by a stretched town led to Christian Eriksen in space on the right, after a couple of dribbles he lasered a cross behind Heung-Min Son – who had just come on for Llorente – right to Moura running in behind. Moura took one touch with his left to control and then blasted the ball past Hamer with his right, 3-0 Spurs at 87 minutes.

LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 13: Fernando Llorente of Tottenham Hotspur shoots and hits the bar during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Huddersfield Town at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on April 13, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images) /

Tottenham wasn’t done yet. In injury time, Spurs again found themselves with the ball driving toward Town’s goal. This time it was Son who laid the soft pass out in front of Lucas Moura on the right. Like the Sissoko pass in the first-half, Moura knew exactly what to do with the ball, as he blasted it into the upper 90 of the far post, giving us the final 4-0 line on the day.

Moura had a game-ball and hat-trick, Lloris had a shut-out and Spurs remained perfect at the new digs in front of a loud and excited crowd. It was exactly what Tottenham needed with two trips to City in the next eight days.