Relief for ‘true pro’ Soldado

Tottenham Hotspur 1 Cardiff City 0

Without a goal in eight games and rapidly assembling his own show reel of gaffes and bloopers in the process, Soldado’s confidence had been ebbing fast, with the forward linked with a return to Spain less than a year after Spurs paid Valencia £26 million (€31.5m) for his services.

But relief came against a Cardiff side rooted in the bottom three midway through the first half, when the forward finished his side’s best move of the afternoon to record only his second Premier League goal from open play and his first at White Hart Lane.