3-1 v Derby County - 15 October 2001 - Home

Tottenham Hotspur banished the memory of two successive home defeats with a comfortable 3-1 defeat of Derby County.

Chelsea had beaten Spurs with a last minute goal and Manchester United had won 5-3 at White Hart Lane after trailing 3-0 at half-time.

But Spurs, thanks to well-worked goals from Les Ferdinand and Christian Ziege, as well as a sublime Gustavo Poyet chip, were never in danger of losing for a third time at home.

Fabrizio Ravanelli replied for Derby, but the visitors rarely threatened Neil Sullivan's goal.

This was Colin Todd's first Premiership game in charge since Jim Smith's departure.

And Todd, on the evidence of this display, will have his work cut out to keep the club out of the relegation zone.

Derby struggled to create chances and they were often cut to ribbons by some of the home side's attacks.

Indeed, Spurs' margin of victory should have been greater than two goals.

Teddy Sheringham had a goal disallowed for offside after eight minutes, though television replays showed the strike was legitimate.

Gustavo Poyet also hit the bar just before the interval.

Ziege had another influential game for Spurs as he delivered a succession of crosses from the left that caused Derby's defence all sorts of problems.

Early on, Ziege himself got in behind the Derby defence to meet Sheringham's clever chip, but he sent his volley inches too high.

On 10 minutes Ziege turned provider when his curling low cross from the left was side-footed home by Ferdinand.

The German wing-back capped an excellent first-half performance with a deftly executed goal.

He collected Sheringham's defence-splitting pass and with the outside of his foot sent the ball past Ian Feuer.

Sheringham was just as influential for Spurs.

The England international, apart from setting up Ziege's goal, was the focal point of a succession of Spurs' attacks.

He also went close with a number of shots and was twice denied by Feuer's athleticism.

In the second-half Sheringham was also denied by a last-ditch tackle by Youl Mawene.

Ravanelli, in between the two Spurs goals, briefly raised Derby's hopes.

The Derby striker, after picking up Deon Burton's pass, hit a low left-footed shot across Sullivan.

Derby re-established a degree of parity in the second-half, but Poyet's mercurial chip in stoppage time finally made the game safe for Spurs.