Tottenham Remain Unbeaten

Tottenham endured a frustrating outing against West Brom on Saturday, drawing 1-1 with them for the third time in a row.

In fact, they very nearly lost at The Hawthorns. Former Spurs man Nacer Chadli struck against his old club in the 82nd minute, and it took an 89th minute reply from Dele Alli to earn Mauricio Pochettino’s visitors a point from a game they had dominated.

Positives

Spurs showed their character to come from behind and grab a draw — as they had done against Everton and Liverpool earlier in the season — and maintain their record of being the only unbeaten team in the top flight. This team doesn’t give up.

Negatives

Spurs wasted a number of good chances in the first half, with Alli denied by the excellent Ben Foster on two occasions, when he really should have given the visitors the lead. Those misses proved costly. The big concern, though, is Toby Alderweireld’s injury. The Belgian centre-back was taking off on a stretcher around the hour-mark with what looked like a knee problem.

Manager rating out of 10

7 — Mauricio Pochettino had to weigh up his players’ freshness after the international break and also plan ahead for a busy period, including Tuesday’s trip to Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League. However, he might now regret leaving in-form Son Heung-Min out of his starting lineup. Son could have been introduced sooner too, but otherwise Pochettino’s selection and substitutions made sense.

Player ratings (1-10; 10 = best. Players introduced after 70 minutes get no rating)

GK Hugo Lloris, 6 — Spilled a shot which nearly resulted in a goal at the end of the first half and had a nervy moment with the ball at his feet, hacking it out of play. But he was unlucky with Albion’s goal, making a good save from the initial shot before the ball ricocheted to Chadli.

DF Kyle Walker, 7 — Made some useful runs forward and wasn’t used enough in the final third. When he was given the ball, he picked out Erik Lamela with an intelligent chipped cross, resulting in a good chance for Alli at close range.

DF Toby Alderweireld, 7 — Fired a couple of accurate balls out to Lamela and defended well before being taken off on a stretcher. He will certainly be missed. The question is, for how long?

DF Jan Vertonghen, 7 — Spurs practised dealing with crosses in their prematch warm-up and he positioned himself well to clear some dangerous balls into the area.

DF Ben Davies, 7 — Came close to scoring twice in the first half, seeing a first-time shot deflected over the bar and then weaving his way into the box before forcing a fine low save from Foster.

MF Victor Wanyama, 7 — Kept possession well and won a couple of free kicks in the first half for protecting the ball strongly while being hassled and harried. The Kenyan passed the ball simply and took no risks.

MF Moussa Sissoko, 4 — Looked ill-suited to the game, which required intricate passing and movement rather than rampaging runs, and offered very little on either flank. It was no surprise when he was substituted.

MF Christian Eriksen, 7 — Probed for an opening throughout and tested Foster on a few occasions, most notably with a low first half drive that drew an excellent stop and then a late free kick which was curling towards the top right corner.

MF Dele Alli, 6 — A mixed display. He got into good positions and had Spurs’ best chances in the first half, but missed them. Alli then lost Chadli when his former teammate scored from the corner, but he made amends by scoring the late equaliser.

MF Erik Lamela, 5 — Looked bright early on and exchanged passes with Vincent Janssen before shooting wide, but faded quickly and was withdrawn with 20 minutes left.

FW Vincent Janssen, 7 — A fairly typical performance from the Dutchman in terms of his displays for Spurs so far. He drew a blank again but led the line well and created chances for others, especially when he sent Alli through on goal in the first half. Janssen needs to score some goals at some stage, but if his teammates had been more clinical he would have had at least one assist.