Slavia Prague (Czechia) (Home) 09.12.2025

Withy forty seconds having passed since kick off, Djed Spence played a fine ball inside the full back for Wilson Odobert.  He held the ball up, then went past a defender on the outside, putting the ball across the six-yard box to Richarlison in the middle of the goal, where he hit it first time and was amazed, as we all were, that goalkeeper Stanek threw up and arm and it hit his upper arm and flew over the bar for a corner.  It was an instinctive save and Richi did everything right, it was just a piece of goalkeeping that explains how he is the Czech national keeper.  However, when the corner came in from Pedro Porro, he had to grab the ball at the second attempt under no pressure. 

In the third minute, twice Chytil grabbed Mick van de Ven twice, before being shrugged off with the ref awarding a free-kick to Tottenham.  This came to a head in the 14th minute, when Micky went on a run, with the Slavia player trying to put him off balance and then went down holding his face.  The ref gave a free-kick and booked Micky, when the replay showed that the hand of the spurs defender caught Chytil on the chest, not his face.  The yellow card meant that van de Ven would be suspended for the next Champions League match at home to Borussia Dortmund.

With the pace of Odobert taking on Holes, Spurs had a supply line, but often he was the furthest player forward and had to turn back.  Porro played a great ball down the right with ten minutes on the clock, with the keeper blocking Mohammed Kudus’ shot coming off the near post.  Sanyang had the same problem when he sped up the right wing and had to wait for Provod to appear on the other side of the box, where, from 20 yards out he let fly, but the ball went wide of the keeper’s left hand post.  The game was fairly open and Richi tested the keeper with a shot from outside the box that forced him to dive to his right to keep the ball out.   When the ball was put out for a Spurs throw, the ref went back and booked Chaloupek for a foul in the build up. 

After Micky got booked, the free-kick was played short and Provod stuck a low effort from 25 yards out that Guglielmo Vicario had to go to ground to push the ball wide to his left.  Moses picked up the loose ball, but only succeeded to turn it into the side-netting.  While Slavia were keen to move the ball forward, there was no high press, allowing Vicario to walk the ball well out of his box without any closing down.  There was space for Tottenham to play and when Simons, Spence and Kudus linked passes, Mo took on his man on the right and played a ball to the far side of the six-yard box, where Odobert was hoping to get on the end of it, but Holes just beat him to it and did well to turn the ball over the bar for another corner.  It was another that the keeper claimed without any challenge.

halfway into the first half, a right wing cross picked out Sadolek at the near post but he met his header with too much of his forehead and instead of glancing across the goal, putting it out for a goal-kick when he should have made Vicario work.  Tottenham were also getting in the Slavia box and Micky’s ball down the left allowed Richarlison to spin his marker and put a ball into the area for Kudus, but his heavy first touch allowed Holes to boot the ball out for a corner.  It would have been a good opportunity if he could have killed the ball dead, although it didn’t prove too critical.  Porro whipped the corner in to the near corner of the six-yard box, Cristian Romero flicked it into the goalmouth and with two Spurs players waiting at the far post, Zima buried his header past his own keeper to make it 1-0 to Spurs. 

From the kick off Spurs won the ball, worked it down the right and Ogbu grabbed Porro round the shoulder to pull him back.  The resulting free-kick was just a foot too high for Romero, who was unmarked again.   At the other end, what looked like a Slavia foul throw (like most of them to be honest), the ball went in and out of the box but when it went to Sanyang 25 yards out in the left hand channel, he struck a low shot that Vic dived right to push the ball away.  Chytil then pulled Micky’s shirt as they ran into the box, going down trying to win a penalty, without the referee booking him, then Ogbu tussled with Richarlison as a ball was played forward and the two players hit the turf, with the referee deciding that it was a Slavia free-kick, but as they went down, Ogbu landed on Richi’s head.

The effort was there for all to see in the Spurs players legs, with Spence showing good pace to reach a ball on the left of the box, pulling it back across the 18 yard area for Kudus, but the ball was lost.  As Slavia moved forward both Porro and Djed made good recovery runs to make sure nothing was made of it.  The visitors did have a good opening in the 38th minute, when 23 was left in space just inside the area right in front of goal, but he scuffed a shot that Vicario save easily.  Ten minutes before the break Kudus lifted a ball to the far side of the goal and Richi looked to take off to scissor-kick a volley, but Ogbu blocked it, with the ball running loose for Doudera to try to run it away only to be stopped by a sliding tackle from Palhinha.  It looked as though he might have jumped into the tackle, which I guess is why the referee booked him, but on replay he produced a fine block challenge that shouldn’t even have been a free-kick.

Spurs were holding the ball well now, after Slavia had been having a bit of a spell going forward, but they weren’t happy when they were in the middle of an attack on the Spurs goal. ten yards outside the box and the referee blew the half-time whistle.

The second half began with Spurs knocking the ball around and when Palhinha was fouled ten yards inside the Slavia half, we got a free-kick.  Joao touched it to his left and Archie Gray played a delightful chipped ball beyond Sanyang for Porro to run onto in the area, knocking the ball inside but only into the keeper’s arms.  As he played the ball Sanyang hit him late, sending him flying off the pitch, down the slope and into the advertising hoardings.  The French referee had no doubt that it was a penalty as the defender took Pedro’s legs that also earned him a yellow card.  Richarlison had missed one against Copenhagen, so the ball was passed on to Mo Kudus to take the spot-kick.  A simple run up to the ball and a finish down the middle found the net as all the players ran off looking for ball-boy’s seats to sit on in the traditional Kudus celebration.  

Five minutes later, Joao won the ball with a strong challenge (there’s a surprise), allowing Archie to run forward with the ball and he played it off to his left where Wilson Odobert took a touch and hit a low shot on target that the keeper did well to keep out with a strong left hand.  When Romero played the ball to Gray, he strode through the midfield before laying the ball to his left to Wilson and his low cross into the middle of the penalty area was mis-kicked by Richarlison, when he was presented with a great goal-scoring opportunity.  Just after the hour, Djed played another ball inside the full-back, this time for Mathys Tel, on for Kudus.  He took on his man just inside the left side of the penalty area with some fancy footwork and hit a low shot that Stanek pushed out to Pape Matar Sarr, on for Archie Gray, but the keeper had recovered his position to block the incoming shot from 10 yards out with his legs.

Vic was furious when Sadilek took a look at the keeper coming for a cross and then bundled into him before the ball arrived.  The Spurs goalie stood more than head and shoulders above the mini-striker as players gathered around, but the ref did well and just spoke to the two players.  When Sadilek had to concentrate on the ball, a low ball across to him gave him a shooting opportunity, but he could only hit a weak shot all along the ground that Vicario had no trouble getting behind.

A loose pass in the Tottenham half halted a Slavia move and presented Lucas Bergvall with the ball.  Moving up the pitch, he dinked the ball into the penalty area, where Randal Kolo Muani chested it down for Xavi, who took the ball past Ugbo, whose leg went across Simons to bring him down and the referee again pointed to the spot.  Ugbo escaped without a second yellow card, but Xavi made an exaggerated stop before putting the ball into the keeper’s left hand corner, although Stanek did get a touch on it as he had guessed the right way to put Spurs three ahead with ten minutes to play.

There was five minutes left when Slavia probably had their best opportunity, with a cross that flicked off Sarr’s head to the far post and Zafeiris came in to volley into the side netting from a yard out.  The massed ranks of Slavia supporters all thought it was in and so did I, but fortunately it went the wrong side of the post as far as they were concerned.  They were happy enough chanting, holding their scarves aloft, taking off their shirts (the men that is) and jumping around.  Obviously the Police were expecting some trouble as the Worcester Avenue was closed off to Spurs fans coming in from Northumberland Park and there were quite a lot of riot squad officers in attendance, but I didn’t see any incidents. 

Ogbu was dicing with danger as Randal spun past him with a flick and was unceremoniously bundled off the pitch and sent crashing into the advertising hoardings.  It was endangering the safety of a player and the referee, who had been pretty good all night, once more bottled dishing out a second yellow to the Slavia defender.  Spurs kept attacking and Spence fired a rising effort at goal that the keeper managed to beat away with Simons slicing the rebound weakly wide.  In the first minute of added time, Tel showed good pace and footwork to work an opening and his low shot aimed at the far post was tipped wide by Stanek.  Slavia had a shot on target when Tcham wasn’t closed down 20 yards out and tried to beat Vicario, but the effort was straight at the keeper.

In the final analysis, the goal threat from Slavia was minimal, despite them having some openings, which might explain their total goals in this Champions League campaign numbers just two from six matches.  Their much talked about organisation which had won them draws with Atalanta and Athletic Bilbao failed to turn up tonight, as Spurs went on the front foot, but that also meant that there were chances for Slavia, but Vicario only has to make a couple of difficult saves.  The side battled well to win the ball and there was plenty of cover for team-mates, with Porro and Spence pushing up high.  There was barely a poor performance, although some fans think that the players should be perfect in every situation.

Unbeaten at home and only the defeat to Paris Saint Germain has put Tottenham in with a chance of finishing in the top eight to avoid the play-off games, although we still face two tough games against German clubs with Borussia Dortmund coming to N17 and then a visit to Eintracht Frankfurt.  It might be necessary to get four points at least from those matches and two wins would be great, but they should both be more difficult than this one.

For Sonny, it was an emotional return and he saw a win as the team-mates he left behind showed that there is promise there.  When he said “I hope you guys don’t forget me ?”, a smile played on his lips.  He knows full well that he is a club legend who will never be forgotten.  In these times when legends don’t really have to earn that tag, Sonny did earn it and more.  Lifting the Europa League trophy was a fitting finale to his Tottenham career and now his mural a couple of hundred yards from the stadium immortalises his contribution to Tottenham Hotspur.  It was great to see him and we can but hope that our new number 7 does justice to that shirt.  In the last two matches, it looks like he might just do that.

• This was Tottenham’s 23rd successive unbeaten home game in European competitions.