Football

Tottenham vs Huddersfield result: Lucas Moura stars as Spurs move third in race for top four



Lucas Moura hit a hat-trick as a much-changed Tottenham side made light work of relegated Huddersfield Town, climbing into third while Mauricio Pochettino saved key players for Wednesday’s Champions League showdown with Manchester City.

Already missing the injured Harry Kane and Dele Alli, Pochettino opted to make another five changes to the team that had beaten City 1-0 in the home leg of the European quarter-final, most notably omitting in-form forward Son Heung-min from his line-up.

But his boldness paid off as goals from Victor Wanyama and Lucas Moura in the space of just 144 seconds effectively ended the contest before the half-hour mark.

Lucas then struck twice more late on, wrapping up a 4-0 victory as Spurs extended their winning start at their new stadium, with no goals conceded in their three matches so far.

In addition to Son, Toby Alderweireld, Danny Rose and Kieran Trippier also dropped to the bench, while Harry Winks was absent from the squad altogether.

Wanyama made only his second start of 2019 and Juan Foyth was given his first outing since February, while academy graduate Kyle Walker-Peters, Davinson Sanchez, Ben Davies, Wanyama, Lucas and Fernando Llorente also came into the line-up.

Meanwhile, Huddersfield manager Jan Siewert made three changes of his own, bringing in Elias Kachunga, Juninho Bacuna and Florent Hadergjonaj.

The Terriers sat deep and set out their stall, leaving Spurs relying heavily upon Christian Eriksen to unlock the visitors’ defence.

Lucas added Spurs’ second before half-time (REUTERS)

The Dane got an early sight of goal with a free kick just outside the box, but hit the wall, while Wanyama sent a low 25-yard effort wide and Llorente was unable to stretch enough to direct a header at goal.

Midway through the first half Huddersfield were beginning to look relatively comfortable, while Spurs appeared to be a little short of ideas and creativity – but the north Londoners quickly silenced any concerns with a devastating one-two combination in the 24th and 27th minutes.

Davies, playing as a left wing-back in a 3-4-2-1 system, slid a low pass forward to Llorente, who rolled Jon Gorenc Stankovic out of the way and left the path clear for Wanyama to run through on goal, round Ben Hamer and score his first goal for 14 months.

The Brazilian wrapped up his hat-trick late on (Action Images via Reuters)

Moments later, Foyth won the ball on the right touchline and the impressive Moussa Sissoko drove forward before sliding a pass through to Lucas, who sent a low drive under Hamer.

Huddersfield had little motivation to continue putting up a fight and Spurs continued to threaten.

Llorente brought the ball down smartly and had a shot blocked by Hadergjonaj, before sending a flicked header narrowly wide and volleying against the crossbar either side of the interval.

Spurs move third in the league with the win (REUTERS)

Huddersfield began to cause problems of their own in the final 20 minutes. Karlan Grant got a run at goal from the halfway line, before Sissoko caught him up and blocked his shot, while substitute Steve Mounie headed inches wide and Bacuna forced a fine save from Hugo Lloris with a free kick that was heading for the top left corner.

But Pochettino felt confident enough in his side’s lead to make further preparations for Wednesday’s duel with Man City, withdrawing Sissoko, centre-back Jan Vertonghen and Llorente.

Lucas remained on the field though and wrapped up a treble, firing home from an Eriksen cross in the 87th minute before running onto substitute Son’s through ball in injury time and sweeping the ball into the top left corner.



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