Top times for Tottenham

Wednesday, 26/10/2011

by James Willis, Shoot’s Tottenham blogger

It was another solid week in the Spurs camp this past seven days, with tight wins over Rubin Kazan in the Europa League and Blackburn Rovers in the Premier League.

Last Thursday, the team lined up to take on Russians Rubin Kazan, who were also coming off the back of a relatively successful Champions League campaign from the previous season.

Once again, Harry Redknapp chose to field a much changed team in order to keep many of the key players fit for the Premier League. Heurelho Gomes got the nod to start in goal again, while Sebastien Bassong partnered Jake Livermore in a injury plagued central defence.

Kyle Walker remained one of Spurs most ever-present players with his appearance, while Danny Rose filled in most of the game at left back. Highly promising youngsters Tom Carroll and Sandro both played in central midfield with Aaron Lennon and Giovani playing as wingers, in order to support strikers Roman Pavlyuchenko and Jermain Defoe.

The Russians weren't that easy to overcome, though, and for much of the game it looked like Tottenham could have to deal with another stalemate in their Europa League campaign. That was until one small moment of magic from Roman Pavlyuchenko, who's free kick curled magnificently into the upper most corner of the goal, giving the Rubin Kazan keeper no chance.

Despite all of Rubin Kazan's best efforts to get back into the game, Tottenham managed to hold out to earn all three points and top the group, ahead of PAOK Salonika in second.

With many of the first teamers rested during the midweek game, they were all back in action again by the weekend, in Tottenham's game against Blackburn. Brad Friedel, Gareth Bale, Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Younes Kaboul, Scott Parker, Luka Modric, Rafael Van Der Vaart and Emmanuel Adebayor all joined the Spurs line up, with only Kyle Walker, Sebastien Bassong and Aaron Lennon keeping their places.

Rafael van Der Vaart opened the scoring early in the 15th minute with a low drive, but it wasn't too long before Mauro Formica levelled for Rovers. The game appeared a lot closer than many people were expecting and it wasn't until the 53rd minute that Van der Vaart sliced home another shot to give Spurs the lead once again.

This time Spurs held on to their advantage to leave Ewood Park with all three points, putting them fifth place in the table. Despite having 33% of possesion, Spurs had done all they needed to keep pushing on up the table, and now they'll look to build up more momentum in a bid to regain a Champions League qualification place this year.

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