In seasons past, this is one that you could imagine us losing.
Playing away from home, against a physical team and with snow cascading down upon us, many Spurs sides would have lived up to their ‘Southern softies’ label and limped to defeat. On Saturday we showed some character to win in a game in which we didn’t play well.
The difference was the quality of our attack. Defoe was not in particularly great form and should have done better with a chance he knocked wide, when put through by Kranjcar. It wasn’t to matter though, as the game demonstrated the advantage we hold, in being able to name not just one, but two England strikers.
It Defoe’s sidekick Peter Crouch who took centre stage and won us the game. When Huddlestone’s shot proved to be so inaccurate that it managed to stay in play, Kranjcar worked hard to hook a cross over and Crouch headed home, to give us a 1-0 lead on the brink of half time. It was a perfect example of how to use the big striker’s talents effectively, as we crossed to him from the byline rather than the halfway line.
Crouch’s second was a cool finish, from a Jenas pass, to kill off the game. How Blackburn must have wished they had a forward in such clinical form. They enjoyed more possession, but despite hitting the woodwork twice, just couldn’t get a goal.
Gomes was kept on his toes, while Dawson and Bassong again combined admirably to keep Blackburn at bay. We’ve now kept two clean sheets in a row, for the first time this season.
Blackburn badly missed David Dunn, who was really pulling the strings for them until his recent injury. Their biggest threat was Franco di Santo, who looks to have promise and as baby-faced assassins go, makes Ole Gunnar Solskjaer look like Michael Parkinson.
Once again, the win was made to seem even more important by the results from elsewhere. We kept on the tails of Arsenal and Villa, maintained our distance from City and pulled further away from Liverpool. With Chelsea and United both dropping points, the top of the Premier League hasn’t been this close for years. Just 8 points separate us in fifth place, from Chelsea at the top.
With a tough test to come, in the shape of two London derbies within the space of three days, this was a vital victory, as our boys ensured that all Spurs fans can go into Christmas with a smile on their face.
Here’s the highlights:
