Vertonghen out thanks to "The Wickham Man"
The euphoria following Dele Alli's superb goal at Crystal Palace has been tempered by the news today that Jan Vertonghen sustained damage to his "medial collateral ligament" in his knee, and that the Spurs centre-back will be out of action for an unspecified time.
Match of the Day replays indicated that the injury was sustained as Jan fell due to suffering an injudicious elbow in the face administered by Connor Wickham. "The Wickham Man"'s action was not spotted by the referee, but the Palace striker has been charged with violent conduct by the FA and has until 6pm tonight (Tuesday 26th January) to respond. Any subsequent suspension is scant compensation to Spurs, who will now be without one of their key defenders for most, if not all of the run-in in what is now definitely a title chase for Spurs.
The Spurs squad for the Palace game travelled to Barcelona immediately after Saturday's game and the players have been enjoying some warmer weather training in a rare free midweek with such a busy period coming up. Spirits remain high, and we should not be too downhearted about Vertonghen's injury, because Kevin Wimmer (he's a full International for Austria remember!) has impressed on the few occasions he has had a chance to break into the first team. Wimmer's substitute appearance on Saturday was his first Premier League action, after only five previous games in Europa League and Cup football.
I am reluctant to quote one nickname already being given to Alli, after his goal. (It rhymes with his first name, as long as you pronounce it like Spurs fans, and not the BBC, who pronounce it "Deller") You might have guessed the proposed soubriquet, and it might stick, but I'll restrain myself for the moment.
That said, Alli has now scored 6 goals for us and one for England so far this season, and just about all of them have been pure quality. Long may his skill, audacity, cheek and edge reign, and at Tottenham of course!
Alli, naturally, has won your man of the match vote. In November 2014, he scored one of MK Dons' six goals against Colchester. I suspect he won't be starting in Saturday's FA Cup game against the lowly League One side, much as everybody would love to see him. This 19 year old superfind for Spurs has been your man of the match six times already this season. People are going to start paying to come to games just to see him after that wondrous goal. How many times have you watched it so far? I've lost count!
P.S - Chelsea's win at The Emirates was a great result for us, as we are only two points behind Arsenal. Chelsea remain 14 points away from the top four. We remain emphatically top of the London Derby league with 14 points from 6 games. West Ham are second with 9 points from 5.
· See the spursometer in full
Results 23-24.01.16
Norwich 4-5 Liverpool
C. Palace 1-3 Spurs
Leicester 3-0 Stoke
Man Utd 0-1 S'hampton
S'derland 1-1 B'mouth
Watford 2-1 Newcastle
West Brom 0-0 A. Villa
West Ham 2-2 Man City
Everton 1-2 Swansea
Arsenal 0-1 Chelsea
Barclays Premier League Table
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Leicester 23 13 8 2 42-26 16 47
2. Man City 23 13 5 5 45-23 22 44
3. Arsenal 23 13 5 5 37-22 15 44
4. Spurs 23 11 9 3 41-19 22 42
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5. Man Utd 23 10 7 6 28-21 7 37
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6. West Ham 23 9 9 5 36-28 8 36
7. Liverpool 23 9 7 7 30-32 -2 34
8. S'hampton 23 9 6 8 32-24 8 33
9. Stoke 23 9 6 8 24-25 -1 33
10. Watford 23 9 5 9 27-26 1 32
11. C. Palace 23 9 4 10 24-27 -3 31
12. Everton 23 6 11 6 40-34 6 29
13. Chelsea 23 7 7 9 32-34 -2 28
14. West Brom 23 7 7 9 22-30 -8 28
15. Swansea 23 6 7 10 22-31 -9 25
16. B'mouth 23 6 7 10 27-38 -11 25
17. Norwich 23 6 5 11 28-41 -13 23
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18. Newcastle 23 5 6 12 25-41 -16 21
19. S'derland 23 5 4 14 28-46 -18 19
20. A. Villa 23 2 7 14 18-38 -20 13
