January 01, (THEWILL) – Davinson Sanchez’s injury-time header gave Tottenham a 1-0 win over Watford on New Year’s Day, boosting their Premier League top four aspirations.
Watford’s game plan was instantly obvious as they dropped deep into a compact 4-4-2 defensive formation, despite the Nigerian international Emmanuel Dennis’ weak effort inside 90 seconds.
Spurs took a while to get going, but after 16 minutes, they caused problems for Watford’s goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann. Emerson Royal’s right-wing cross caused a mix-up between Super Eagles’ William Troost-Ekong and Imran Louza in the penalty area, but Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s subsequent shot went over the bar.
Soon after, Harry Kane stung the Watford goalkeeper’s palms and Sergio Reguilon drew a fantastic save with a rasping effort from the edge of the area.
On the 30th minute, Spurs created their best chance of the half, when Oliver Skipp sneaked in front to feed Kane, Bachmann threw a sloppy pass into Louza in midfield, and the England captain curled his shot past the far post.
Eric Dier went down in the penalty area under the attentions of Juraj Kucka shortly before halftime. The away side swiftly called for a penalty, but referee Robert Jones waved the defender’s appeals away and both sides went into the break level with no goals.
Spurs came out of the interval on the front foot, and Lucas Moura challenged Bachmann with a long range shot.
Watford, on the other hand, began to show an offensive purpose, and Hugo Lloris turned Josh King’s pile driver round the post in the 53rd minute.
Antonio Conte’s side kept pushing for a breakthrough, and they were inches away when Royal zipped a cross across goal, and Son was just in time to redirect the ball goalwards.
With just under 20 minutes remaining, Son created Spurs’ greatest chance of the afternoon. Bachmann was pushed into heroics to stop Lucas’s volleyed effort after Lucas clipped a lovely pass into the forward’s path.
Ten minutes from time and the Hornets had a chance to take the lead when Joao Pedro went down inside the penalty area after hitting the ball past Lloris, but VAR determined that the Spurs goalkeeper had committed no foul.
After a halt in play due to a medical emergency in the crowd, Tottenham had eight minutes of injury time to find a winner, and it took them until the 95th minute to give a gut punch to Claudio Ranieri’s side.
Son curled in a deft free-kick from a tight angle, and Sanchez glanced his header past Bachmann from close range to send the away end into a frenzy.
Dennis was left out of Nigeria’s selection for the TotalEnergies 2021 African Cup of Nations, with the national team claiming Watford had refused to release the attacker for the tournament, though Claudio Ranieri insisted on Friday that this was not the case.
However, the 24-year-old, who has been involved in 59% of Watford’s 22 league goals this season, looked a shell of his former self before his half-time dismissal, managing just five passes and winning just over 20% of his nine duels.
Conte will be pleased with the point-gain,and Spurs can now focus on their EFL Cup semi-final match against Chelsea.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
