Huijsen header gives Bournemouth deserved win over Spurs
Bournemouth's Dean Huijsen (right) gets the winner
ANGE Postecoglou’s attempt to inject some momentum into his Tottenham Hotspur side’s side’s season and relaunch their challenge towards the top of the Premier League were undone by Dean Huijsen’s first half header.
The centre-back took advantage at poor marking from a corner to score first goal for the club and clinch the victory that moved Bournemouth up. to ninth place in the table, one spot ahead of Spurs. While Postecoglou is facing growing problems Bounemouth manager Andoni Iraola could be satisfied with the way his side secured another significant home win, having already beaten Arsenal and Manchester City at the Vitality Stadium.
Postecoglou has been battling to overcome his side’s frustrating inconsistency and hasn’t been helped by a concerning injury list that has meant the Spurs head coach has been forced to cope without key players running through the spine of his side. Keeper Guglielmo Vicario, centre-backs Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur remain sidelined but Postecoglou could at least call on the services of striker Dominic Solanke who returned to the side to face his former club after missing the weekend home draw with Fulham.
That result maintained Spurs’s erratic recent league form that saw them follow the home defeat to Ipswich Town with a remarkable 4-0 win at Manchester City before Sunday’s stalemate. Throw in a defeat to Galatasaray and home draw with Roma in the Europa League and Postecoglou’s side came into this game having won just one of their last five league games.
Bournemouth were lifted by victory over struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers after successive defeats to Brentford and Brighton and, like Spurs, benefited from the return of one of their main attacking players with Antoine Semenyo back after suspension.
It was Tottenham, though, who made the more enterprising start with Solanke twice showing why Spurs made a club record move for him in the summer. The forward did well to hold off centre-back Dean Huijsen to create the space for a shooting opportunity before wastefully scooping his effort over the bar. And a powerful run from inside his own half demonstrated Solanke’s capacity to stretch the home defence.
Yet for all their early possession, Spurs were unable to properly test Bournemouth keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga and it was the home side who forced a 16th minute lead with a goal that exposed Postecoglou’s team’s defensive weaknesses.
Radu Dragosin’s attempt to clear Adam Smith’s low cross from the right canoned back off teammate Destiny Udogie. The Spurs centre-back was unable to make contact with his secdon attempt to snuff out the danger and it took a smart save by Fraser Forster to deny Evanilson from close range. That provided Spurs with only temporary respite from the danger and from the resulting corner Huijsen drifted away from his marker to head home at the far post.
Tottenham attempted to stage a response but continued to fall short in their attacking efforts that too often ground to a half before they were able to get a clear sight of goal. And they might have fallen further behind had Marcus Tavernier not drifted offside before placing the ball beyond Forster.
And it took an excellent save from the Spurs keeper to deny Tavernier close range header immediately before the break and not add to Postecoglou’s growing list of problems.
If Tottenham were to work their way back into the game it was clear they would have to acquire a more significant cutting edge.
There was certainly a determined edge to their efforts at the start of the second half. They quickly settled back into dominating possession but continued to fall short as they attempted to find a way through the Bournemouth defences. Kepa remained largely untroubled and when the keeper was forced to hurry to keep out James Maddison’s inswinging corner, the chance quickly turned into an opportunity for the home side to again show their strength on the break. This time Justin Kluivert led the way, outpacing Udogie before forcing yet another save from Forster.
Postecoglou attempted to shake things up and introduced Son Heung-min from the bench. The substitute responded as though he had a point to prove, bundling the ball home after Kepa parried Kulusevski’s shot only for the effort to be ruled offside. Moments later the forward’s reverse pass played in Maddison who was unable to get enough curl on his shot bthat drifted beyond the far post.
Spurs, though, were unable to maintain the pressure and soon found themselves defending with increasing desperation as the visitors’ defence grew increasingly nervous. This time the assistant referee’s flag saved Forster’s blushes after the keeper’s poor clear clearance gifted Bournemouth another opportunity to double their lead.
Kepa 6; Smith 6, Huijsen 7, Zabarnyi 6, Kerkez 7; Adams 7, Christie 7 (Cook 75, 6); Semenyo 7 (Brooks 83, 6), Kluivert 6 (Outtaran 64, 6), Tavernier 7 (Billing 83, 6); Evanilson 8 (Unal 83, 6).
Travers, Aarons, Kinsey, Hill.
Forster 7; Gray 6, Dragusin 5, Davies 6 (Porro 62), Udogie 6; Sarr 5 (Son 57, 6), Bissouma 6 (Bergvall 80, 6), Maddison 6 (Werner 80, 6); Johnson 6, Solanke 6, Kulusevski 6.
Austin, Reguilon, Spence, Olusesi, Lankshear.
Simon Hooper 6
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