Tottenham Hotspur beat Huddersfield Town 4-0 at Spurs’ new stadium, with a stunning hat-trick from Lucas Moura.
Mauricio Pochettino was forced to make several changes to his starting 11 that had previously won against Manchester City in the Champions League on Tuesday, due to injuries to Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Harry Winks. Seven changes were made in total and many fans worried how the team were going to respond with their key players missing. Son was surprisingly left on the bench, along with Danny Rose and Toby Alderweireld, all of which were rested ahead of Tottenham’s second leg clash against Man City at the Etihad on Wednesday.
Victor Wanyama helped settle the nerves when he scored Spurs their first goal in the 24th minute. Just three minutes later, Lucas Moura slammed home a stunning strike which saw Tottenham suddenly lead Huddersfield by 2 goals to nil.
Moussa Sissoko gave another stand out performance, causing the Terriers many problems through-out the middle of the field. Sissoko has become one of Spurs’ top and most vital players this season and is vastly proving to be a far more supreme player than when he first joined the squad back in the summer of 2016. His contract is signed until 2021 and fans should be rest-assured that Moussa is very happy where he is, after his comments were featured in today’s official match day programme. He said “The new stadium is probably the best I have played in. Everything they have done in it is phenomenal.” He then went on to say, “”I’m very happy to be part of this project and play in his stadium, hopefully for a long time to come.”
The second half of the game was much like the first, with Tottenham having countless of chances on goal, one of which saw Fernando Llorente narrowly missing and hitting the bar. Lucas Moura finally extended Tottenham’s well deserved lead in the 87th minute and then again scoring shortly after in stoppage time, marking his first ever hat-trick in European Football. Moura also made history becoming the first ever player to score a hat-trick at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Celebrations at the end of the game showed just how much it meant to Lucas. As the whistle blew he headed straight over to the stand where his family were and bought his 15 month old son onto the pitch to experience the special moment with him and the fans watching on around the stadium.
After dropping many points in the last couple of months, Spurs have seemed to settle in well at their new stadium and have moved back up into third position in the Premier League. Tottenham now look ahead to Wednesday night’s match against Manchester City for the second leg in the Champions League. Pochettino’s boys go into the game with a 1-0 lead, however it is going to take a lot of fight, determination and belief playing away at the Etihad, where they will have to give all they’ve got to keep Manchetser City out and from winning the all important game in the Champions League quarter final.
– Samantha Ramm
