Saha broke a 942 minute duck on Saturday!
Spurs were odds-on favourites to beat Newcastle United at White Hart Lane on Saturday evening, but who would have expected the 5-0 trouncing handed out to them in front of the ESPN cameras?
Before kick-off, Spurs were available to back at odds of around 1.5 (or 1/2 in old money) which would have made them an appealing bet for free bet site visitors looking to make some easy and largely risk-free money.
Benoit Assou-Ekotto was a 41.0 (40/1) outsider to score the first goal but delivered with little more than four minutes on the clock.
The bookmakers didn't really fancy a hammering on the cards and as far as correct scores went, they believed a 1-0 or 2-0 victory was the most likely. More speculative Spurs punters could have got odds as high as 51.0 (50/1) with some firms on a 5-0 whitewash.
Of course, the biggest surprise of the day was not the fact Spurs went 2-0 ahead inside six minutes, or lead by a 4-0 scoreline at halftime, but Louis Saha. Signed on a free transfer from Everton, the French striker was nominated by one blogger as the most bizarre transfer of the January window, especially having gone 942 minutes without a Premier League goal before this match kicked off.
However, as far as debuts go, they couldn't have gone much better. Saha may not have been as glamorous an arrival as £50 million Fernando Torres who rocked up at Stamford Bridge on deadline day a year ago, but he's one who achieved in 19 minutes what the Spaniard has failed to do in 19 matches for Chelsea – score two goals.
Another golden oldie made his Spurs bow in the match too – veteran defender Ryan Nelsen who arrived on a free transfer from Blackburn Rovers. He replaced Ledley King with 15 minutes to go.
Harry Redknapp's team now have 53 points and sit comfortably in third place, 10 more than nearest rivals Arsenal and Chelsea, both on 43 and have a goal difference of 24. Both Arsenal and Chelsea have a comparatively low goal difference of 13.
Unfortunately for Spurs, both clubs above them in the table – Manchester City and Manchester United won their weekend games. City edged past a defensive minded Aston Villa on Sunday when a goal from Joleon Lescott shortly after the hour mark was enough to secure all three points while United beat Liverpool 2-1 at Old Trafford. Two goals in three second half minutes from Wayne Rooney put the game beyond the Reds but the under-fire Luis Suarez gave them something to think about with 10 minutes left.
Arsenal won 2-1 at Sunderland to remain in fourth place but Chelsea lost ground with a 2-0 defeat at Everton. Newcastle are one point behind both Arsenal and Chelsea on 42 but their 5-0 drubbing by Spurs sees their goal difference reduced to zero.
Things got a lot more interesting at the bottom of the table when Wigan Athletic won 2-1 at Bolton Wanderers. Roberto Martinez's side still prop up the rest but are not just two points away from safety. Blackburn Rovers won a vital “six pointer” by beating Queens Park Rangers 3-2 at Ewood Park.
Wolves slipped into the bottom three after being spanked 5-1 at home to local rivals West Bromwich Albion. The result saw Blackburn climb above them in the table and out of the drop zone on goal difference. It was also a result which cost Mick McCarthy his job at Molineux.
Wolves, QPR and Blackburn all have 21 points while Bolton have 20 and Wigan 19. Three of those five are likely to be relegated with Aston Villa and West Brom closest to them on 28 and 29 points respectively.
· Performance of the season by Adebayor!
Results 11-12.02.12
Man Utd 2-1 Liverpool
Blackburn 3-2 QPR
Bolton 1-2 Wigan
Everton 2-0 Chelsea
Fulham 2-1 Stoke
S'derland 1-2 Arsenal
Swansea 2-3 Norwich
Spurs 5-0 Newcastle
Wolves 1-5 West Brom
A. Villa 0-1 Man City
Barclays Premier League
Pos Team P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Man City 25 19 3 3 64 19 45 60
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2 Man Utd 25 18 4 3 61 25 36 58
3 Spurs 25 16 5 4 49 25 24 53
4 Arsenal 25 13 4 8 48 35 13 43
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5 Chelsea 25 12 7 6 44 31 13 43
6 Newcastle 25 12 6 7 36 36 0 42
7 Liverpool 25 10 9 6 29 23 6 39
8 Norwich 25 9 8 8 37 41 -4 35
9 S'derland 25 9 6 10 34 26 8 33
10 Everton 25 9 6 10 26 27 -1 33
11 Swansea 25 7 9 9 28 32 -4 30
12 Fulham 25 7 9 9 31 36 -5 30
13 Stoke 25 8 6 11 24 38 -14 30
14 West Brom 25 8 5 12 29 35 -6 29
15 A. Villa 25 6 10 9 29 34 -5 28
16 QPR 25 5 6 14 26 43 -17 21
17 Blackburn 25 5 6 14 37 56 -19 21
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18 Wolves 25 5 6 14 28 49 -21 21
19 Bolton 25 6 2 17 29 51 -22 20
20 Wigan 25 4 7 14 23 50 -27 19
