Antwerp defeated as we finish top - match report and debrief

Top spot was secured in Europa League Group J on Thursday evening as second-half goals from Carlos Vinicius and Giovani Lo Celso gave us the required victory over Royal Antwerp.

After a goalless first half at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, we took control when our Brazilian forward tapped home the opening goal in the 56th minute after Gareth Bale’s long-range free-kick was pushed onto the post by visiting goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand. And victory was wrapped up 15 minutes later when the excellent Giovani Lo Celso took substitute Harry Kane’s pass and scored with a tidy finish.

We were always in the ascendency throughout the match, even if the first half was lacking in any real clear chances, but we managed 10 shots on target while Joe Hart in goal didn’t have a save to make at the other end.

The three points saw us climb above our Belgian visitors and avenge our only defeat in the group on Matchday Two, ensuring we go into Monday’s draw for the knockout stages as one of the seeded teams.

Job done on comfortable night

It was a tidy performance against a Royal Antwerp side that gave us a difficult night when we lost in Belgium earlier in the season. Even in a first half in which we didn’t hit top form, we were still completely in control. Bale glanced a header well wide and then he and Lucas both had efforts blocked by Jeremy Gelin, before Lo Celso had a curling shot whacked away.

The visitors had an opening on 33 minutes when Cristian Benavente played a one-two and was in behind our defence but a poor touch took him away from goal which gave Davinson Sanchez the chance to get across and deflect the shot away for a corner. From the set-piece, we launched a counter and Lo Celso spotted Vinicius in space, but his cross-field pass was cut out by goalkeeper Beiranvand on the edge of his area. And moments later, Lo Celso produced a lovely nutmeg in midfield to get a run at goal, his 20-yard shot with the outside of his left foot pushed away on the stretch by Beiranvand. Two minutes before the break, Lucas got free in midfield and slipped in Vinicius, but the keeper was out quickly to block his shot.

We introduced Steven Bergwijn for Sergio Reguilon at half-time and switched formations from a 3-4-3 to a more familiar 4-2-3-1 and did see a good chunk of possession in the early stages of the second half, leading to the opening goal on 56 minutes. Lucas turned away from Abdoulaye Seck and was fouled by the Antwerp player 35 yards from goal. Seck had been booked for an identical foul on Lucas in the first period but escaped punishment this time – so perhaps the goal was fitting! Bale stepped up and smacked a dipping free-kick towards the top corner which Beiranvand did really well to push onto the post, but Vinicius was on the spot to side-foot the rebound into an empty net.

A flurry of substitutions followed immediately with Heung-Min Son, Kane and Tanguy Ndombele all entering the fray and it wasn’t long before Son had twice tested the visiting goalkeeper, while Kane was inches wide with a header from Lo Celso’s corner and Beiranvand did well to hold a Bergwijn curler.

The second goal duly arrived in the 71st minute when another sub, Moussa Sissoko, won possession in midfield, Kane then threaded a pass to Lo Celso who advanced into the area and slotted home with a neat finish. Sanchez headed Son’s free-kick well over when unmarked in the area in the closing stages but that mattered not as the win was in the bag by then… and first place in the group.

Home comforts in Europe

We set a new competition record on Thursday evening as we scored in our 26th consecutive home fixture in the Europa League (including qualification), beating the previous longest home scoring run in this competition which was held by Sevilla and Villarreal.

Including qualifiers, none of our last 18 home European matches have ended as a draw (W13 L5), as we’ve won our last four while scoring 16 goals.

Vinicius, meanwhile, has been directly involved in six goals in three UEFA Europa League matches at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (three goals, three assists).

Jose Mourinho made three changes from our last Europa League outing against LASK last week – Reguilon, Harry Winks and Vinicius coming in for Ndombele, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Son. Otherwise it was nine changes from the win over Arsenal at the weekend with only Reguilon and Lo Celso keeping their places.

Reaction on Spurs TV

'We did amazingly well to press them high'

Head Coach Jose said after the game: "They are a difficult side, they press, they mark, they chase, lots of one-against-ones all over the pitch, great intensity and one thing we did amazingly well was to press them high and keep them away from our defensive area. I don’t think Joe Hart made a save, and that’s what we did better.

"In the first half the quality of our football was not bad, but a bit slow, but from the beginning of the second half, not just after the changes, we were more intense, the ball was running faster, the players had more movement and it was then a question of time to score the first goal and win the game."

Match data

Goals: Spurs – Vinicius 56, Lo Celso 71.

Yellow cards: Spurs – Sanchez; Royal Antwerp - Seck, Ampomah.

Referee: Jesús Gil Manzano (Spain).

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Weather: Cloudy night, dry, eight degrees.