Saturdays suiting Spurs this season!
I was under the impression that it must be years since we started the season with four Saturday games, but in fact it was only last season. This time last year we were still looking for our first win, so this time around we have improved upon a start which ultimately led to our best Premier League season position-wise, but not points-wise. Two of our four opponents (Stoke and Everton) have been the same. We have matched last season's results in the corresponding games against all four teams we have played so far. Spurs remain one of four unbeaten Premier League sides after 4 games, and are also amongst the top four teams regarding goal difference. Following Everton's 3-0 win last night at The Stadium of Light, we are in fifth place.
Spurs' clean sheet on Saturday at Stoke's bet365 Stadium was their 250th in their Premier League history. Our last clean sheet was in the 1-0 home win over Crystal Palace, but of course our last away clean sheet was in our 4-0 win at Stoke in April! Son Heung-min's brace was his first for the club since his home debut in the Europa League against Qarabag on September 17th last year. At a stroke (well two actually, plus an assist!) Son became our top scorer, and unsurprisingly was voted your man of the match. At this rate, he could be player of the season!
Christian Eriksen seems to have found his form after his contract issues were resolved. He and Harry Kane got their best grades of the season so far.
This was our sixth win in 9 Premier League away fixtures against Stoke. Our two 4-0 wins are not our biggest away margins against this opposition though. On September 15th, 1951, Spurs, who were reigning Division One Champions, beat Stoke 6-1 at The Victoria Ground. Alf Ramsey scored from the penalty spot; Les Medley scored two, and McClellan, Bennett and Walters also got on the scoresheet. Spurs also beat Stoke 6-1, this time at White Hart Lane in their title-winning season in October 1950. Medley, Bennett (2) and Walters were amongst the scorers that day too. Len Duquemin chipped in with another two goals. There is an interesting obituary on Sid McLellan at the My Eyes Have Seen The Glory web site which gets little publicity, but which has been around longer than Spurs Odyssey and was one of the most popular fanzines "back in the day" and before the exponential advance of the Internet. MEHSTG still links to the spursometer, and we are only too happy to return the compliment. Webmaster "Wyart Lane" was jointly responsible for the original idea of the spursometer.
Harry Kane's first goal of the season was his 50th Premier League goal. Still only 23, Harry becomes the fastest Spurs player to that landmark, and also amongst the youngest Premier Leagaue players to reach this total. Last season, he waited till his seventh league game (against Man City September 26th) to break his league duck for the season. The year before that first league goal came even later in game 10 against Aston Villa. History suggests Harry will exceed his totals in the last two seasons this time around!
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Premier League results 10-12.09.16
Man Utd 1-2 Man City
Arsenal 2-1 S'hampton
B'mouth 1-0 West Brom
Burnley 1-1 Hull
M'brough 1-2 C. Palace
Stoke 0-4 Spurs
West Ham 2-4 Watford
Liverpool 4-1 Leicester
Swansea 2-2 Chelsea
S'derland 0-3 Everton
Premier League Table
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Man City 4 4 0 0 11-4 7 12
2. Chelsea 4 3 1 0 9-4 5 10
3. Everton 4 3 1 0 7-2 5 10
4. Man Utd 4 3 0 1 7-3 4 9
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5. Spurs 4 2 2 0 7-2 5 8
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6. Liverpool 4 2 1 1 9-7 2 7
7. Arsenal 4 2 1 1 8-6 2 7
8. Hull 4 2 1 1 5-3 2 7
9. M'brough 4 1 2 1 4-4 0 5
10. Watford 4 1 1 2 7-8 -1 4
11. C. Palace 4 1 1 2 3-4 -1 4
12. West Brom 4 1 1 2 2-3 -1 4
13. Swansea 4 1 1 2 4-6 -2 4
14. B'mouth 4 1 1 2 3-5 -2 4
15. Burnley 4 1 1 2 3-5 -2 4
16. Leicester 4 1 1 2 4-7 -3 4
17. West Ham 4 1 0 3 5-9 -4 3
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18. S'hampton 4 0 2 2 3-6 -3 2
19. S'derland 4 0 1 3 3-8 -5 1
20. Stoke 4 0 1 3 2-10 -8 1
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· This week last year
