Tottenham Hotspur bounced back from disappointment at the Emirates by beating Norwich City 2-0 at White Hart Lane. Though it was a Gylfi Sigurdsson brace which gave Spurs the advantage on a scoresheet, in truth it was a fabulous team effort that saw the hosts to three points -- they simply outplayed the Canaries in every facet of the game.
Tottenham Hotspur vs. Norwich City: Final score 2-0, Siggurdson brace wins it for Spurs
Jamie McDonald
The visitors were put on notice in the 12th minute when Roberto Soldado hit the post with a deft backheel following an error from John Ruddy, but they would not (or, more accurately, could not) do anything about it. They were carved open time and time again, and eventually they were going to concede.
The opening goal came just before the half hour mark. Soldado chested back to fellow new-boy Christian Eriksen, who played an instinctive ball into the path of 13-month veteran Sigurdsson. The Iceland international finished low into the far corner, giving Tottenham a lead they never really looked like relinquishing.
Sigurdsson struck again twenty minutes later, taking advantage of a superb run and cross from Paulinho to tap in at the back post. By this point, it was a question of how many goals Spurs would manage to score. The only point at which Norwich threatened involved Ricky van Wolfswinkel knocking Jan Vertonghen over without the referee noticing, and even then the ball was cleared away by Danny Rose.
There wasn’t much left for the Canaries but to see out time and hope that no further damage was done. This they did, albeit unsteadily. An 83rd minute corner would be their only consolation.
Tottenham Hotspur starting lineup (4-2-3-1): Hugo Lloris; Danny Rose, Jan Vertonghen, Michael Dawson, Kyle Walker; Paulinho, Moussa Dembele (Erik Lamela, 83'); Gylfi Sigurdsson (Sandro, 79'), Christian Eriksen (Lewis Holtby, 71'), Andros Townsend; Roberto Soldado.
Goals: Sigurdsson, 28’, 49’.
Norwich City starting lineup (4-4-1-1): John Ruddy; Javier Garrido, Sebastien Bassong, Michael Turner, Steven Whittaker; Nathan Redmond (Anthony Pilkington, 74'), Bradley Johnson (Jonathan Howson, 64'), Leroy Fer, Robert Snodgrass; Johan Elmander (Alexander Tettey, 74'); Ricky van Wolfswinkel.
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