Son and Kane fireball the gooners

First-half goals from Heung-min Son and Harry Kane in the North London derby ensured that Spurs continue to set the pace in the embryonic Premier League title race. Jose Mourinho has bent Tottenham Hotspur to his will. Spurs have taken seven points from fixtures against Manchester City, Chelsea and now Woolwich, without conceding a goal.

This is not ‘to dare is to do’ football, it is the football of a man who has won trophies with ruthless efficiency wherever he has managed. And despite what Mourinho may say publicly, there is a growing belief in N17 that he can end the club’s sixty-year wait to once more be heralded champions of England.

Tottenham fans have long been characterised as valuing style even at the expense of substance. There has been much talk that Mourinho’s ‘less is more’ approach to possession, which has seen the club rise to the Premier League’s summit, will not be tolerated when fans return en masse to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Well, the 2,000 drawn from a ballot to attend Spurs first fixture with partially open doors since early March seemed more than satisfied with their team’s performance here. Woolwich may have finished the game with 69% of the possession, but Spurs ended up with 100% of the points.

The opening ten minutes of the game was typical local derby fare. Fouls outnumbered passes and ironic jeers – making a welcome return from the terraces – greeted misplaced passes. It took 13 minutes for Woolwich to be undone by their own territorial false sense of security. Spurs are at their most dangerous now when Kane forces defences to follow him into his own half. An Woolwich attack broke down, Bergwijn scraped a header on to Kane and Spurs were suddenly away.

Kane’s immaculate first touch allowed him a second, manoeuvring the ball on to his left foot before spinning the ball out to where he knew Son would already be galloping. The South Korean drove at Holding, cut inside the Woolwich defender before caressing the ball into the top corner from more than twenty yards. It was Son’s tenth league goal of the season so far. The forward’s tally now matches that of the entire Woolwich team. With barely a quarter of an hour played, it already appeared a long way back for the Gunners.

Hojbjerg and Sissoko ensured that the Woolwich midfield – so lacking the creative flair that Arsene Wenger used to stockpile in his sides – never had time to lift their heads and play decisive passes. The Woolwich threat in the first half, such as it was, came from wide with the dangerous deliveries of Saka, Willian and Tierney. Time and again though Dier and Alderweireld showed more desire to meet these crosses than the out of sorts Aubameyang and subdued Lacazette. Any set-pieces Woolwich won were repelled just as forcefully by Harry Kane. The England skipper is showing the same appetite for aggressive front post defending that Mourinho instilled in Didier Drogba, the talisman of his Chelsea championship-winning sides.

Kane’s team play and creativity means his continued excellence as a Premier League goalscorer has received less attention than in previous seasons. In stoppage time at the end of the first-half, he served up a bludgeoning reminder of why Woolwich defenders and fans have come to fear him more than any other player who has worn a Tottenham shirt. Serge Aurier broke up an Woolwich attack and picked out Lo Celso with a sharp forward pass. Bizarrely Thomas Partey in the Woolwich midfield had chosen this moment to limp to the side of the pitch seeking treatment.

Lo Celso was free to lead a swarm of four Spurs players against the just two now in red goalside of the ball. As the Argentine fed Son, Arteta even tried to push Partey back into the action, but the damage was already done. Son drove into the box, putting Holding off-balance with his trademark step-overs. He then reversed a ball to his left, where the phantom-like presence of Kane appeared bang on time to crash a left-foot shot, from point-blank range, off the underside of the crossbar and into Leno’s net. The goal sealed yet another record for Harry Kane. He is now the highest scorer in this fixture of all time.

Arteta replaced the stricken Partey with Ceballos at the interval and Woolwich improved markedly in the second half as a result. Inside the first five minutes of the restart, Tierney’s sweet cross presented Aubameyang with a free header at goal. The Woolwich captain has only scored once from open play in the Premier League this season, and that came on the opening day at Fulham. Shorn of confidence, he skewed his header high over the bar. Moments later Willian and Bellerin combined for Woolwich’s best move of the match. The Spanish full-back’s low ball across the box only needed a touch from Lacazette to bring the away side back into the contest. The forward failed to connect.

Typically Spurs immediately countered. Son worked the ball on to Sissoko who carried towards the Woolwich area. His flighted cross was tidied up by Ceballos to Leno with what looked suspiciously like a deliberate back pass. Referee Martin Atkinson’s decision to allow play to continue elicited a maniacal laugh from Mourinho on the sideline. The Spurs manager was clearly enjoying himself, as was the fourth official doubtless aware the Portuguese’s reaction would have been very different were his side not two goals to the good.

That was the last attacking foray Spurs made in the match. It was now a case of closing out the result. The pre-game build-up had witnessed sufficient intrigue around the fitness of Hugo Lloris to warrant a Netflix original series – particularly after Joe Hart’s travails in mid-week. On 68 minutes Spurs were very grateful that their number one had recovered from the myriad ailments said to be afflicting him since last Thursday -according to social media. The French keeper superbly turned a Lacazette header around the post.

Mourinho took this as his cue to pull up the drawbridge altogether. Lo Celso made way for Ben Davies as Tottenham switched to a 5-3-2. Woolwich were unable to make any further inroads in the final twenty minutes save for one fine block by Alderweireld that snuffed out an Aubameyang shot.

On full-time Mourinho turned to salute the smattering of fans in Tottenham’s vast South stand. And judging by the rapturous applause directed back at him, it’s a safe bet not one of them cared in the slightest that Spurs hadn’t registered a single shot in the second half. Turns out there is one thing Spurs fans love more than style – winning.