Home European football England Tromso 0 – 2 Tottenham

Tromso 0 – 2 Tottenham

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Andre Villas-Boas’ side overcome freezing temperatures in Norway to defeat Tromso to finish top of Group K in the Europa League.

Anzi Makhachkala drew 1-1 with Sheriff Tiraspol to guarantee Spurs would finish top.

Tottenham took the lead in the second half when Vlad Chiriches’s shot from a Gylfi Sigurdsson’s free-kick cannoned in off Tromso’s Adnan Causevic.

Sigurdsson’s pass then set up Moussa Dembele to make it 2-0 soon after.

Tottenham hadn’t showed the intensity that they had been showing in previous matches, but they could be forgiven, given that they were playing in sub-zero temperatures on an artificial pitch.

I wasn’t until after the hour mark that Tottenham, without 10 rested first-team players, made the breakthrough against the side who were sat bottom of the group and recently relegated from Norway’s top tier.

Tromso carried little threat and one and only clear chance of the night came inside the first minute when Czech forward Zdenek Ondrasek fired his shot wide.

Tottenham became accustomed to the conditions after 15 minutes, and created three good chances of their own – one which they should have finished.

All three fell to Tottenham’s midfield, with England winger Andros Townsend stinging the hands of keeper Benny Lekstrom with a low drive before Etienne Capoue saw his strike deflected wide.

Nacer Chadli then wasted the best chance of the half when Sigurdsson’s pass to the Belgian was scooped into the snow-covered empty seats behind the goal.

Capoue, Soldado and Michael Dawson all found themselves in the books for poorly-timed challenges, but Tottenham finally converted with a breakthrough in the 63rd minute.

Sigurdsson was arguably Tottenham’s man of the match, delivering a low free-kick in the path of Chiriches whose effort struck defender Causevic and flew into the back of the net.

Moussa Dembele scored his first goal of the season to double the away team’s lead, after Sigurdsson provided yet another assist.

Dembele should have added another straight from the restart but struck the post with a low shot before sending the rebound into the netting.

By Rory Whitelaw

Tweet me your thoughts and opinions – @HEELRory

 

 

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