Nottingham Forest (Away) 28.08.2022

With Romero and Skipp still injured and Winks and Reguilon finalising loan moves away from the club, Conte went for a familiar line-up, having Davinson Sanchez in Romero’s place.  Perisic kept his left wing-back position and the rest of the side consisted of what looks like Conte’s preferred starters.  The sun shone down on a Bank Holiday Sunday crowd, with the home fans so excited to be back in the top-flight, they made a lot of noise, but the Tottenham contingent was just as loud.

An early free-kick on Forest’s left wing saw Lloris punch it out and then he had to take the ball low to the ground as a cross from the other side was aimed at the far post.  When Steve Cook tried to clatter Kane, he only succeeded in knocking the ball against a team-mate, with it running to Kulusevski in middle of pitch. He stepped forward with the ball, looked up and played it to his right for Harry to take one touch and then bobble a low shot across the static Henderson and into the keeper’s bottom right corner for his 200th career league goal.  Not the cleanest hit he had ever struck, but it was enough to deceive Henderson to put Spurs into the lead bang on five minutes.  Cook hardly had a good game against Harry when he used to play for Bournemouth, so this just continued that tradition.

It was Tottenham’s first shot on goal as Forest dominated the first 15 minutes. When Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg broke a tackle in the centre circle, he immediately released Kane to his left and Worrall made a very well-timed tackle to rob him of a shooting opportunity on the edge of the box.  Perisic’s cross was headed out, Davies helped it back into the middle, but it was knocked out and Heung-Min Son tried to curl it in, striking it first time from the 18-yard line but he put his fierce drive just over the bar.

When Hojbjerg threw a block to a Lingard shot, it came away to Son and his pass to Kane saw him come inside from the left channel to try and bend a low shot into the keeper’s bottom left corner but put the ball a yard wide. 20 minutes into the match, O’Brien tried a 20-yard shot that forced Lloris to push wide to his left and when Williams crossed it back in, Persic coolly headed back to Hugo, but then Spurs broke away again, but Dejan’s pass intended for Hojbjerg was cut out.

Spurs were getting all eleven men back in the defending third when Forest got the ball going forward and Sanchez was alert when ball came in from their right wing and cleared from in front of goal being the only Spurs defender to react to the danger.  Kulu gave the ball away with a loose pass and then it bounced off him when the home side got to the box, but Perisic managed to shield the ball back to Hugo to clear.  The Spurs captain was in action again straight away, when Gibbs-White put a low ball across the box and Hugo had to use his feet to get across to palm the ball away from Yates as he dived to the floor.  There looked as though there might have been a chance for Son when he was put through the middle, but had his shot saved although he was then flagged offside.

Johnson put a header wide and Williams missed by a mile with a shot coming in from the right, so when the game reached the 35 minute mark, it meant that Davinson Sanchez had played nine hours in the Spurs team without conceding a goal !  While Forest had more of the possession, there was a threat every time Spurs broke up play and counter attacked.  However, five minutes before the break, Toffolo played the ball into the box from the left and it was laid back for Gibbs, who hit a powerful shot over the top.

Into the second half, Forest had a good chance to level when Yates headed a Johnson cross wide from a decent position inside the box but guided it wide with the whole goal to aim at and Spurs then took the ball to the other end and Kane’s long right wing cross picked out Perisic at the back of the area, but his half-volley went over the top. When the Croatian was involved again, his cross was knocked away by Cook’s hand as Kane came in.  It looked a certain penalty, but VAR was involved to look at whether it was a penalty, whether Kane had fouled Cook or whether anyone to noticed that Cook was pulling Kane’s shirt off him. The ball wasn’t going in, but why it took so long to decide that I don’t know. A penalty as given anyway in the end, so Kane stepped up and put it to the keeper’s right and Henderson dived to beat it out. It wasn’t his best penalty, but it was a good save.

Forest, buoyed by the penalty save, went forward and when a cross came it Yates laid it back for Williams to shoot, but he fired the shot into the ground and it bounced just wide of Hugo’s left hand post. Tottenham’s response caught Forest stepping up and Son had one shot blocked and then another kept out by the goalie.  The home defence were becoming over-zealous in their challenges and after Cook was booked for the handball, his two fellow defenders were also cautioned. Worrall for clipping Son when he was away (and only a covering defender ensuring it wasn’t a red card) and then McKenna tried to rip Kane’s shirt off his back as the Spurs striker turned away from the Forest 26.

Kulusevki tried a right foot shot after Son had put him into the area on the right-hand side, but he dragged the effort wide of the far post and then had a shot blocked by Cook as he cut inside onto his left foot. Spurs were three against two and Kane ran the ball forward before moving it on to Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who could only fire a shot into the side-netting. The chances were being spurned and Dejan struck another left foot effort that deflected away for a corner.  There was another yellow card waved by Pawson when O’Brien had three goes at fouling Kane, but when they went forward, Gibbs-White crossed the ball into the box, where it bounced off Johnson’s head for a goal-kick.  The forward didn’t really know where the ball was when he went for it.

Ryan Sessegnon had come and when he was put clear on the left wing, he sped down the left, but didn’t play the ball quickly enough and McKenna blocked his cross for Kane.  Richarlison chased it to the left wing and held off a defender, before knocking the ball across the goal with the outside of his right foot allowing Kane to fall to his knees to head the ball into an empty net after Toffolo and Kouyate had ignored his presence at the far post. It was shocking defending, but great spatial awareness by Kane, who punished it with the appropriate finish.  Harry got a booking for over-celebrating, but he didn’t jump into the crowd and was surrounded by his team-mates, so it was harsh by the referee to say the least (see Chelsea’s goal celebrations a fortnight ago).

When Richarlison was unmarked on the left wing, he knocked the ball up to do a bit of ball-juggling, which was followed by Johnson scything him down in what was reckless and was with excessive force, but somehow only got a yellow card. A lack of discipline and a lack of ability was causing a flurry of yellow cards for a desperate team, who couldn’t contend with a Spurs side who worked hard and were by far the better team in the second half.  Kane was the difference between the two sides, but the lack of a goal-scorer will damage Forest, as they have a lot of defensive learning to do after their promotion from the Championship.

Hojbjerg was the stumbling block that Forest came up against once again and he went past two men with a shimmy and played it left in the box to Richarlison. The Brazilian’s shot was saved and it came out to Djed Spence, who had just come off the bench for the concussed Bentancur, but he topped his shot and then reacted to poke the follow-up towards goal but it was cleared inside the six-yard box.  Scoring with his first touch for Spurs would have been a cracking start to his career with the club, especially as it would have been against the side he was on loan at last season.

Dennis fooled referee Pawson into giving a free-kick on the left corner of the Spurs box, but Kane headed the ball over from his place in the wall. They had a bit of a go at the end with Worrall leaning back to shoot over from a knock down from a corner and Williams getting another one off target, but their stat of only one shot on target out of seventeen shots on goal tell a tale. Hugo only had one save to make and that was reasonably routine. The Spurs defence were solid and achieved another clean sheet, with Forest players being lively, but lacking quality in delivery and finish. Spurs meanwhile, were more accomplished with seven shots on target out of their 18. While Kane could have claimed another hat-trick, his two goals took him joint third in the all-time Premier League goal-scorers list. His first was a low ‘grubber’ of a shot but he placed it wide of the keeper and used the defenders in front of him as a shield to block Henderson’s view to put it where he couldn’t get it. His second was an astute piece of movement to find such a gulf of space behind the Forest defence to head into the goal from a couple of yards out. While Sonny is struggling to find the net at the moment, Kane’s goals are making up for that and the fourth game without defeat this season keeps Spurs in third place.

Not the most enthralling game I’ve ever seen, but the effective way the Spurs team are playing is testament to Antonio Conte instilling his theories and beliefs into the Tottenham players. While Forest did a lot of attacking, the final pass was lacking and breaking up their moves gave Spurs numerous chances to score on the counter-attack. Conte will be angry that not more was made of them, but he will be happy to come away with three points.

Gary Maybury

• Harry Kane’s first goal was his 200th career League goal.
• Kane’s second goal was his 187th Premier League goal that put him equal third in the all-time Premier League goal-scorers list.
• Harry’s failure to score from the penalty spot came after 21 successful goals from spot-kicks.
• Djed Spence makes his Spurs debut.
• Nottingham Forest hand a debut to Morgan Gibbs-White.