Image Credit: The Telegraph
By Lee Clow 02 July 2020 | Premier League
Sheffield United earned their first points since the return of the season as they overcame Tottenham 3-1 at Bramall Lane.
Going into the game, Jose Mourinho elected to start the attacking quartet of Kane, Son Heung-Min, Steven Bergwijn and Lucas Moura for the first time this season, while Sheffield United were forced into two changes.
The game started brightly with both sides looking sharp in attack, however the tempo soon flattened with rustiness still a factor with all the players.
The first real chance of the game came on 27 minutes when Spurs worked some good combination plays. Bergwijn put in a cross down the left towards Moura before the Brazilian’s loose touch fell for Moussa Sissoko who fired at goal, but Dean Henderson was firmly placed to stop hold the strike.
This seemed to lighten up the match as minutes later, the deadlock was broken. The home side worked the ball well into the box before Sander Berge struck low into the corner of the net to give Sheffield United a surprise lead.
Moments later, Tottenham appeared to miraculously draw level as Kane placed the ball in the net, but as celebrations were being made, VAR intervened as they looked for a potential handball. Whilst showing the build-up play on replays, Moura could be seen touching the ball in his descent whilst being fouled. VAR deemed the incident as handball, ruling out the equaliser as well as infuriating the Tottenham coaching staff.
Following this, Tottenham came out on the front foot as they looked to earn justice by scoring another equaliser.
The Blades managed to ride Tottenham’s storm as they reached halftime with a slender lead.
In the second half, Tottenham raced out of the blocks, clearly still hurt by their disallowed goal, but Sheffield United soon returned to their pattern of the play in the first half and frustrated the away side.
On 68 minutes, Sheffield United doubled their lead after some awful Tottenham defending. Some simple play down the left allowed Enda Stevens to get in on goal before squaring it to substitute Lys Mousset who was criminally left unmarked in the box to tap home.
Following the sucker punch goal, Jose Mourinho immediately brought on Dele Alli and Tanguy Ndombele as they looked to get a goal back into game.
In the final 10 minutes, Sheffield United put the nail in the coffin for Tottenham as they found their third goal. Some fantastic play down the right by Ben Osborn allowed the Blades midfielder to skip past the non-existent Spurs defence and square the ball to Oli McBurnie who smashed it past Hugo Lloris to make it 3-0 to the Blades.
Having had a goal ruled out in the first half, Kane finally got on the scoresheet as the visitors scored a consolation goal in the 90th minute. A great ball from substitute Erik Lamela found Son, before the South Korean squared the ball across to Kane who simply tapped home.
There was no chance of an Ajax comeback for Spurs as Sheffield United held out for the vital three points. The victory for the Blades lifts them back up to seventh in the table while Tottenham drop down to ninth as their hopes for Champions League football looks in tatters.
What’s next?
Seeking all hope for Champions League qualification, Tottenham return home in their next fixture as they take on Everton on Monday, while Sheffield United take a trip to Turf Moor as they face Burnley.
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