What a difference a win makes!
Spurs' first win of the season sent them up to a more respectable 12th place in the Premier League, which is, of course, more than welcome. We were rooting for Newcastle to get a result at Upton Park last night to send Chelsea down to the bottom three, but it wasn't to be.
We all know that Chelsea will climb up the table, but it is still great fun to a) be above them and b) to revel in the knowledge that this has been their worst start since 1986, or as some wags have commented "in their 12 year history"!.
There are a couple of London Derby matches coming up next week-end. The first will be on Saturday lunch-time when Chelsea host Arsenal, so we should be able to take some joy from that game whatever the result. Spurs' home game against Alan Pardew's vibrant Crystal Palace presents both a challenge, but also an opportunity for Spurs to climb still further into an area of the table where we hope to finish the season.
Newcastle's defeat last night leaves them rock bottom of the table below even Sunderland, with Stoke also on just two points. Whilst only five games have been played, it is a fact that in the last two years, two of the bottom three at this stage ended up being relegated. £50 million of summer investment and a new manager hasn't done Newcastle much good so far.
As for Spurs, that winning performance was perceived by voters as the best of our season so far. In my view, this is one of those occasions when statistics do not tell the whole story, as comments I received tend to support my view that we've seen better performances before the win.
One goal from just 4 shots on target means a better score ratio, which no doubt improved the overall spursometer assessment. Mauricio Pochettino won plaudits for the impactive substitutions of Lamela and Townsend.
The win does not paper over the cracks of a general lack of goals, both for the team and Harry Kane. Heung-min Son's debut started brightly, but faded, so we hope for better things to come there.
There was a second successive clean sheet for Spurs, whose goal difference is 0 - five goals better off than Chelsea.
I travelled to the game with four others, and we discussed a potential man of the match for Spurs. Vertonghen was mentioned, for sterling defence, and Mason, of course, because he scored the goal. I don't recall any of us mentioning Eric Dier, who won the Sky sports man of the match award, which perhaps influenced our voters who gave Dier and Mason equal credit.
Eric Dier has already been voted our man of the match in three of our five games so far. Pochettino clearly likes him in the middle, as do Spurs Odyssey voters. Dier is clearly a very industrious player, whose efforts in the "engine room" section of the midfield are perhaps not always noticed. One of the benefits he gives is the licence to Mason to play more freely in support of the attacking midfield, and Harry Kane.
Spurs also had one of the youngest teams playing this week-end, and have one of the youngest squads in the Premier League. The project of encouraging and developing youth continues!
Results 12-14.09.15
Everton 3-1 Chelsea
Arsenal 2-0 Stoke
C. Palace 0-1 Man City
Norwich 3-1 B'mouth
Watford 1-0 Swansea
West Brom 0-0 S'hampton
Man Utd 3-1 Liverpool
S'derland 0-1 Spurs
Leicester 3-2 A. Villa
West Ham 2-0 Newcastle
Barclays Premier League Table
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Man City 5 5 0 0 11-0 11 15
2. Leicester 5 3 2 0 11-7 4 11
3. Man Utd 5 3 1 1 6-3 3 10
4. Arsenal 5 3 1 1 5-3 2 10
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5. West Ham 5 3 0 2 11-6 5 9
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6. C. Palace 5 3 0 2 8-6 2 9
7. Everton 5 2 2 1 8-5 3 8
8. Swansea 5 2 2 1 7-5 2 8
9. Norwich 5 2 1 2 8-9 -1 7
10. Liverpool 5 2 1 2 3-6 -3 7
11. S'hampton 5 1 3 1 5-5 0 6
12. Spurs 5 1 3 1 4-4 0 6
13. Watford 5 1 3 1 3-4 -1 6
14. West Brom 5 1 2 2 3-6 -3 5
15. A. Villa 5 1 1 3 6-8 -2 4
16. B'mouth 5 1 1 3 6-9 -3 4
17. Chelsea 5 1 1 3 7-12 -5 4
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18. Stoke 5 0 2 3 3-7 -4 2
19. S'derland 5 0 2 3 6-11 -5 2
20. Newcastle 5 0 2 3 2-7 -5 2
