Swansea City’s old boys continue to come back to haunt them and Fernando Llorente became the third summer departee to score against his struggling former team-mates.
The Spaniard started in place of Harry Kane and took only 12 minutes to head a goal that piled more misery on Swans fans who had seen Jack Cork strike for Burnley and Gylfi Sigurdsson score for Everton earlier in the season. To add insult to injury, TV footage showed Llorente was offside.
“Maybe Fernando was offside for his goal and maybe Swansea have a right to complain but in football you always need some luck to open up the game,” said Mauricio Pochettino, the Tottenham manager.
“It was fantastic for Fernando to score. He has been waiting for his time to play and for any player it is good for their confidence when they score. The conditions were so, so difficult but we deserved the victory. I’m very pleased to take the three points.”
Storm Eleanor dumped gallons of water on players and pitch, and made it a miserable night for both. Every pass brought a spray of water as the ball went from player to player and the majority came from the visitors.
Carlos Carvalhal started with three centre-halves and set up Swansea to contain and frustrate Spurs. They barely got a kick, in much the same fashion as in the 0-0 draw between the teams at Wembley earlier in the season, and got caught out at a free-kick.
Tom Carroll brought down Son Heung-min, Christian Eriksen floated over an inch-perfect cross and Llorente rose to head home at the near post. There was no celebration from the centre-forward but his goal sunk his former side deeper into the mire at the bottom of the table.
For Eriksen it was a continuation of his chief executioner role against the Swans. Coming into the game he had scored six goals and provided four assists in eight Premier League games against them.
The deluge continued until 10 minutes before half time, by which time the home side had managed one effort on the Spurs goal from a Renato Sanches free-kick. Thankfully, the rain stayed away in the second half and a proper game broke out.
Swansea changed their shape, played with more ambition and confidence, and took some risks. Davinson Sánchez was lucky to escape with a warning from the referee, Bobby Madley, for a foul that looked worthy of a second yellow card when he scythed down Martin Olsson on the edge of the area and it was no surprise Pochettino soon took him off.
There was action at both ends as the game opened up and twice Lukasz Fabianski had to punch away Eriksen free-kicks from the edge of the area. Then Hugo Lloris went down low to stop Luciano Narsingh at his near post after a great break from the home side.
It gave Swansea renewed confidence, despite the arrival of Kane on 68 minutes, and Jordan Ayew was thwarted in front of goal by Kieran Trippier after by-passing Lloris. From the corner Mike van der Hoorn hit the post with a header.
As Carvalhal’s side pressed forward there was every likelihood they might be caught on the break and that is what happened. Kane played in the excellent Dele Alli and even though the midfielder’s first shot was blocked by Fabianski, he managed to fire home the rebound as he stumbled goalward.
If an eighth home defeat was tough for the fans to take, the Swans manager was not too downhearted after two games in charge. “From what I have seen in these games I have a team of character, with quality and which is brave. Let’s see if we can bring in one or two in the transfer window,” Carvalhal said. “If they play with the heart and soul of tonight I will be a very happy coach.”
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