2-2 v Norwich City - 28 December 2019 - Away

Tottenham Hotspur Badge

Spurs 2

Norwich City

Norwich City

2

Details
Match Number

7395

Opposition
Norwich city

Norwich City

Competition
Premier League

Premier League

Season

2019/20

Date

28th December 2019

Kick Off

17:30

Venue

Carrow Road

Attendance

27,072

Referee

Kevin Friend

VAR

Chris Kavanagh

League Position

6th

Opposition League Position

20th

Opposition Form

DLLLLL

Weather at Kick Off

8° - Partly Cloudy

Facts & Milestones
  • 7359th overall match (3522 wins, 1611 draws, 2213 losses)

  • 5762nd competitive match (2607 wins, 1343 draws, 1812 losses)

  • team

    83rd match vs Norwich City (36 wins, 23 draws, 24 losses)

  • competition

    1058th Premier League match (454 wins, 263 draws, 341 losses)

  • 6714th match in England (3168 wins, 1499 draws, 2034 losses)

  • 47th match at Carrow Road (16 wins, 12 draws, 19 losses)

  • Tanguy Ndombèlé's 23th birthday

  • There were 4 changes to the starting lineup from the last match.

Against STATS For
5 Attempts 14
2 Attempts on Target 6
0.2 xG 1.9
42% Possession 58%
559 Touches 729
300 Passes Completed 476
430 Passes Attempted 606
69.8% Pass Completion 78.5%
10 Crosses 21
21 Throw-ins 22
4 Corners 6
13 Tackles 12
13 Blocks 9
17 Interceptions 9
12 Fouls 10
3 Yellow Cards 3
3 Offsides 3
Report

Harry Kane struck a late penalty to earn Tottenham a point at Carrow Road and deny Norwich a first Premier League victory in seven matches.

Mario Vrancic opened the scoring with his first Premier League goal for the Canaries before they were denied a second when Teemu Pukki's goal was ruled out for a marginal offside by the video assistant referee (VAR).

Spurs improved after the interval and Christian Eriksen drew them level with a stunning free-kick but Norwich retook the lead when Serge Aurier put through his own net.

The visitors had their chances and Dele Alli's neat finish was ruled out for offside, before Kane drew Christoph Zimmermann into a lunging challenge inside the area.

Norwich remain bottom of the table and six points from safety, while Spurs are up to fifth, two points behind fourth-placed Chelsea who have a game in hand.

Norwich last won in the Premier League on 23 November, but they started brilliantly against Jose Mourinho's Spurs.

They played with attacking intent from the opening exchanges as Vrancic rolled the exciting Onel Hernandez through on goal, only for Paulo Gazzaniga to sprint off his line to collect the loose ball.

That set the tone and Daniel Farke's side pressed their visitors high up the field. When Juan Foyth hesitated and lost possession deep in his own half, Vrancic carried the ball with urgency before firing past Gazzaniga with a smart finish.

Then came a moment of controversy as Vrancic turned provider to fire a long ball onto the chest of Pukki, who held off Jan Vertonghen to slide the ball into the net, only for the goal to be ruled out.

The Finnish striker appeared to come back onside before the ball was played over the unconvincing Spurs defence, but VAR adjudged his right arm to be offside.

Spurs hit back after the interval but Farke's men rode the storm and retook the lead as Pukki continued to cause confusion, his effort deflecting from Toby Alderweireld onto Aurier and into the Spurs' net.

As Spurs searched for the equaliser, the hosts demonstrated a steely mentality and dived into tackles - but ultimately did so once too often. Zimmermann lunged into a tired-looking tackle to concede the penalty and Kane punished Norwich.

Points against the so-called 'big six' must be built on if the Canaries are to become the first side bottom of the Premier League at the turn of the year to overcome a six-point deficit from safety and survive.

When Mourinho took the Spurs job he spoke about the "quality" he was inheriting from Mauricio Pochettino, and Kane is exactly the type of player the Portuguese was referring to.

The Spurs and England captain had an ineffective first half despite latching onto a long ball from Alderweireld and firing at Krul from close range.

But when Spurs found themselves a goal behind for the second time in the match, Kane came alive in the penalty area and dragged his team level.

The striker enticed the challenge from Zimmermann before checking back on his left and winning the spot-kick, which he subsequently converted with ease.

Another player Mourinho would have been keen to work with on his arrival at the club is Eriksen, and the midfielder's second-half performance proved exactly why.

There has been plenty of speculation over the Dane's future, with his contract due to expire at the end of the season. Making his first league start under Mourinho, he struck his free-kick with aplomb to draw the visitors level.

Eriksen had more touches of the ball (118) and more shots (four) than any other player and he was crucial to the visitors regaining a foothold in the game after going behind for a second time.

If Mourinho can persuade the midfielder his future is best served under him at Spurs, he may be the difference between securing Champions League football for next season or missing out altogether.

Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho told Sky Sports: "I think the same defensive mistakes we made in the first half, we made in the second half. This is being a little bit of our history.

"We conceded two very bad goals. Our defensive mistakes are match after match.

"I have lots of work to do but it has been difficult because I always say you have to try and hide your fragilities. We have to improve defensively because there are too many individual mistakes. That's very frustrating because we play well and cannot be more offensive than we were in the second half.

"Norwich defended with their souls and their lives."

On Christian Eriksen's future: "I don't want to speak about it. We are so open with one another. We keep it to ourselves. Obviously I share it with my boss. But it's just between us. The only thing I can say is he is trying to help the team and I am happy with his man of the match."

Norwich manager Daniel Farke told Match of the Day: "Over the course of the 90 minutes, a draw was a fair outcome and a good point for us."

On VAR: "I don't want to complain too much about this topic. My understanding is that VAR should make the game more fair. My gut feeling [after Pukki's goal] was that we would find a situation where it was offside.

"Perhaps they found a part of his shoulder that was not onside. In my eyes, VAR doesn't make the game more fair in this situation. The striker should be given the advantage. Being 2-0 up at half-time would have changed the game. It was a crucial situation.

"It's a good start to the second half of the season and hopefully we can add many more points."

Timeline
KO

Mario Vrančić

18'

Mario Vrančić

22'

Teemu Pukki

Offside (VAR)
33'
HT

Jamal Lewis

54'

Tim Krul

55'
FT
Location
League Table
# Team PL W D L GF GA GD PTS
1
Liverpool
18 17 1 0 46 14 32 52
2
Leicester city
19 12 3 4 41 18 23 39
3
Manchester city
19 12 2 5 52 23 29 38
4
Chelsea
19 10 2 7 33 27 6 32
5
Wolverhampton wanderers
19 7 9 3 29 24 5 30
6
Tottenham Hotspur Badge Tottenham Hotspur
19 8 5 6 34 27 7 29
7
Sheffield united
19 7 8 4 23 17 6 29
8
Manchester united
19 7 7 5 30 23 7 28
9
Crystal palace
19 7 5 7 17 21 -4 26
10
Newcastle united
19 7 4 8 19 28 -9 25
11
Arsenal
19 5 9 5 25 28 -3 24
12
Burnley
19 7 3 9 23 30 -7 24
13
Everton
19 6 4 9 21 29 -8 22
14
Southampton
19 6 3 10 23 37 -14 21
15
Brighton hove albion
19 5 5 9 22 28 -6 20
16
Afc bournemouth
19 5 5 9 20 26 -6 20
17
West ham united
18 5 4 9 20 30 -10 19
18
Aston villa
19 5 3 11 25 33 -8 18
19
Watford
19 2 7 10 12 33 -21 13
20
Norwich city
19 3 3 13 19 38 -19 12
# Team PL W D L GF GA GD PTS
1
Liverpool
19 18 1 0 47 14 33 55
2
Leicester city
20 13 3 4 43 19 24 42
3
Manchester city
20 13 2 5 54 23 31 41
4
Chelsea
20 11 2 7 35 28 7 35
5
Manchester united
20 8 7 5 32 23 9 31
6
Tottenham Hotspur Badge Tottenham Hotspur
20 8 6 6 36 29 7 30
7
Wolverhampton wanderers
20 7 9 4 29 25 4 30
8
Sheffield united
20 7 8 5 23 19 4 29
9
Crystal palace
20 7 6 7 18 22 -4 27
10
Everton
20 7 4 9 23 30 -7 25
11
Newcastle united
20 7 4 9 20 30 -10 25
12
Arsenal
20 5 9 6 26 30 -4 24
13
Burnley
20 7 3 10 23 32 -9 24
14
Brighton hove albion
20 6 5 9 24 28 -4 23
15
Southampton
20 6 4 10 24 38 -14 22
16
Afc bournemouth
20 5 5 10 20 28 -8 20
17
West ham united
19 5 4 10 21 32 -11 19
18
Aston villa
20 5 3 12 25 36 -11 18
19
Watford
20 3 7 10 15 33 -18 16
20
Norwich city
20 3 4 13 21 40 -19 13
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