PREMIER LEAGUE
SUNDAY 28TH AUGUST, 2022
(4.30PM)
NOTTINGHAM FOREST 0(0) TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 2(1)

Scorer:-
Kane, 5,81

Attendance:-
29,296

Referee:- Craig Pawson
Assistants:- Ian Hussin, Scott Ledger
Fourth official:- Darren England
VAR:- Stuart Attwell
Assistant VAR:- Dan Robathan

Teams:-
Forest (3-4-2-1):- Henderson; Worrall(Capt.), Cook (sub Awoniyi, 75) , McKenna; Williams, Yates(sub Kouyate, 75) , O’Brien(sub Freuler, 75) , Toffolo; Johnson (sub Surridge, 90+1), Gibbs-White; Lingard (sub Dennis, 69)

Subs not used:- Hennessy; Biancone; Colback, Mighten

Booked:- Cook (handball, conceding penalty), Worrall (foul on Son), McKenna(foul on Kane), O’Brien (foul on Kane), Kouyate (foul on Kane), Johnson (foul on Richarlison)

Spurs (3-4-3):- Lloris (Capt.); Sanchez, Dier, Davies; Emerson Royal, Hojbjerg, Bentancur (sub Spence,90+1), Perisic (sub Sessegnon, 74); Kulusevski (sub Bissouma, 83), Kane, Son (sub Richarlison, 74)

Subs not used:- Forster; Doherty, Tanganga, Lenglet; Sarr

Booked:- Kane (over-celebrating second goal)

Kane is stronger than Forest

Thanks to Andy Park for the picture

For a Spurs fan, this game was rarely pleasing to watch as “New Forest” (17 signings is the latest count) showed lots of energy and put Spurs under plenty of pressure in front of their exuberant home crowd. Uncomfortable as it can be to watch, Antonio Conte’s Spurs are happy to let opponents venture forward, when they generally defend stoutly, seeking to bounce back with powerful effect on the counter. The bottom line is that Forest had just one shot on target, whereas Spurs were on target 7 times from a similar number of shots. Spurs were more clinical and the scoreline reflects that. Harry Kane takes the headlines with two goals, but he also had a rare penalty failure. His occasional England team-mate Dean Henderson was the busier keeper and the two shared a joke about the penalty incident at full-time.

Credit should also be given to Davinson Sanchez, who has not conceded a goal when playing for Spurs in nearly his last 10 hours on the pitch. I only remember Hugo Lloris having one save of any note to make.

On a sunny day, Forest kicked off and Spurs played towards The Trent End in the first half, away from their fans, who hadn’t been here to watch Premier League action since Spring 1999. Forest had a free kick after a foul on Lingard after only 15 seconds. Hugo punched Gibbs-White’s kick, and when Lingard returned a deep ball into the box the Spurs skipper held that comfortably. Gibbs-White hit a shot way over the target after three minutes. Spurs soon bounced back with a fifth minute opening goal. Hojbjerg, whose driving force was prominent today, sent a ball forward to Kulusevski who was positioned towards the left side. “Kulu” found Kane with a quick pass to the right for Harry Kane who caught the defence, and Henderson, on the hop with a well-placed right-footed shot inside the keeper’s right post. This was Harry’s 200th Football League goal in a scoring career which began whilst on loan with Leyton Orient in 2011. It was also Harry’s 186th Premier League goal.

A shot by Brennan Johnson was deflected for a corner, and when that was taken, the ball ran out for a throw-on the opposite flank. Forest skipper Joe Worrall made a great challenge inside his area to deny Kane, who had been put through by Hojbjerg. Son hit a right-footed shot over the target after a cross by Perisic had been half-cleared. Both Lingard and Yates had shots blocked before Spurs broke forward again. “Sonny” passed to Kane who tried to curl a shot into the net but pushed the shot wide of the far post.

Forest had a corner on the right side after 19 minutes. This was partially cleared and when O’Brien hit a shot that was on target, Lloris saved that and subsequently held a slightly over-hit back header by one of his defenders. There was plenty of Forest pressure, but Spurs again broke forward with effect when Kane sent Son away. Son, who is still looking for his first league goal of this season, was pulled up for handball. Kane fed a ball to Emerson to his right, but the wing-back’s cross was cleared. Kulusevski had a shot blocked after an exchange of passes with Son. Forest countered and Lloris had to stretch to push a ball clear of danger.

Johnson headed wide after a cross by Toffalo. Gibbs-White was off target again towards the end of the first half.

Spurs kicked off the second half and Kulusevski passed forward to Kane, but at times he had the attention of up to three defenders, and this was one such occasion. Yates headed wide for Forest after approach play by McKenna and Gibbs-White. Sanchez made a good pass down the right flank to Harry Kane who crossed deep to the left-hand side of the area where Perisic fired over with a first-time effort.

After 52 minutes, Perisic crossed deep from the left and with Kane ready to head into the net, Steve Cook raised his hand and pushed the ball over Harry. Referee Craig Pawson awarded the penalty, but VAR took a while deciding whether Cook should be sent off for preventing the goal-scoring opportunity. He probably should, but a yellow card was the decision. Kane’s spot-kick was a bit too far from Henderson’s right post and at a comfortable height for the keeper to save. It’s along time since Harry had a failure from the spot!

Yates lofted a pass to Williams, whose shot should have won a corner, but Spurs got a goal kick. Forest became cynical as either Son, or predominantly Kane threatened to break forward and the captain was the first in the book for such a foul. Others followed. After a pass from Kulusevski, Son had one shot/cross blocked, then his follow-up shot was saved. Kulusevski tried a right-footed shot after taking a Son pass, but this failed. He also had a cross blocked after receiving a good ball from Hojbjerg.

Spurs had a three against two advantage in another break when Kane fed the ballot Hojbjerg, but his shot was into the side netting. Spurs won their first corner of the game after 69 minutes when a Kulusevski shot was blocked after another Kane pass. Perisic was replaced by Sessegnon, and a visibly upset Son came off in favour of Richarlison. Richarlison had a chance, but Henderson collected the ball after Kulusevski’s cross.

One of Forest’s most recent signings – Dennis from Watford – came off the bench but he fired over. Sessegnon had a great chance to tee up Kane after receiving a great ball from Hojbjerg, but Ryan was hesitant, and the ball was cleared and quickly returned to Richarlison. Richarlison crossed and the Forest defence had been caught out, as they started to walk forward, leaving Kane into much space where he headed home for Premier League goal number 187.Harry was booked for over-celebrating as he was sucked into the away section.

Johnson’s booking was for a loss of temper as he challenged Richarlison who had been guilty of show-boating in the Forest half.

Forest fans gave their rendition of “Champions of Europe, you’ll never sing that”. The Spurs section responded with “You weren’t even born!”

There were a scheduled 8 minutes of added time and in the first of these Djed Spence was given a Spurs debut in front of the fans he served so well last season whilst on loan from Middlesbrough. He even had a shot on goal blocked, trying to follow up when Richarlison’s shot was saved by Henderson. Kane blocked a free kick conceded on the edge of our area by Hojbjerg and Worrall hit a last chance well over the target.

Spurs are in third place, unbeaten on 10 points. It’s their best four-game start since 2009 when we won all four opening games. Next up are West Ham, who today managed to score their first league goal of the season.

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