Important home win over Wolves - match report and debrief

A dominant performance saw us to a well-deserved 2-0 home victory over Wolves on Sunday and moved us back up to sixth in the Premier League table with two games left to play.

Harry Kane’s 22nd goal of the season set us on our way on the stroke of half-time before Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg added a second after the interval of a game in which we had 24 shots at the Wolves goal, 13 on target and hit the woodwork three times.

We were quickly into our stride, just five minutes gone when Kane sized up a 25-yard right-foot shot which beat Rui Patricio but struck the foot of the post, while Hugo Lloris was alert to block Fabio Silva’s shot from a tight angle two minutes later. Apart from the occasional counter from the visitors, we were well in control during the first half, with Patricio saving well from Gareth Bale’s 25-yard free-kick and Heung-Min Son’s angled drive.

The first half ended in drama and our opening goal. Giovani Lo Celso’s 43rd-minute corner was headed up in the air and Kane beat Patricio to the ball but Conor Coady cleared off the line. Eric Dier skewed the rebound back out to Lo Celso, who whipped in a shot which was going in, only for Coady to again get back and clear. But, just a minute later, Hojbjerg’s superb through ball found Kane in on goal, he feinted to shoot as Coady slid in and took the ball past Patricio before slotting into the empty net.

Wolves had a great chance five minutes after the restart but Romain Saiss headed straight at Lloris, before we were soon back on the offensive. Patricio denied Sergio Reguilon and then did superbly well to tip Kane’s shot onto the post, with Dele Alli hitting the rebound onto the other upright.

Our second arrived on 62 minutes. Reguilon did well to keep the ball in play down the left and cut back for Son, he found Bale whose curling effort was pushed out by Patricio but only as far as Hojbjerg, following up to slam into the back of the net. That was the end of the significant goalmouth action as we held on with the minimum of fuss to take maximum points.

Home comforts

An unusual quirk of this fixture meant that the home team had failed to win since we beat Wolves 3-1 under Harry Redknapp in September, 2010 – 10 games ago – but that was emphatically ended on Sunday afternoon. We had 62 per cent possession across the game as we controlled proceedings throughout the 90 minutes, with everyone playing their part in a good all-round team display. For the visitors, Patricio made a number of good saves to keep the scoreline respectable, while Wolves centre-half Coady made 10 clearances in the first half alone and had never made more in an entire 90 minutes of a Premier League game before this match.

Coady cleared off the line twice in quick succession as we stepped up the pressure in the closing stages of the first half, getting our reward just before the break as Hojbjerg’s delightful pass from inside his own half put Kane through and the England striker was cool and composed to find the back of the net. His 22nd Premier League goal moved him back to the top of the pile in the race for the Golden Boot.

We were playing some lovely football and carved Wolves open early in the second half, Reguilon finishing the move with a strike which Patricio did well to push over the bar and the Portuguese keeper’s best of the game saw him tip Kane’s drive onto the far post with Dele unable to convert the rebound.

Reguilon had a good game at left-back and it was his endeavour that led to the second goal as he slid in to dispossess Ki-Jana Hoever down by the goal-line and pull the ball back for Son, who found Bale and although Patricio did well to save again, Hojbjerg was on hand to poke home.

Wolves did fashion a couple of chances after going 2-0 down but Fabio Silva dragged wide when well placed while Adama Traore came inside off the right flank and fired wide with a left-footed shot. The game ended with Patricio making a save from Kane’s shot, but the points were in the bag.

History for Hojbjerg!

Having assisted Kane’s opener and then scoring our second goal, Hojbjerg scored and assisted in a Premier League game for the first time in his career, on what was his 145th appearance in the competition.

Kane, meanwhile, has been directly involved in more Premier League goals than any other player this season (22 goals, 13 assists), with only Robert Lewandowski and Lionel Messi having a hand in more across the top five European leagues.

Team news saw Interim Head Coach Ryan Mason make just the one change, with Japhet Tanganga coming in at right-back for Serge Aurier, who missed out with a groin injury.

Reaction on Spurs TV

'An excellent performance'

Ryan Mason told Spurs TV: “It’s always important to bounce back from defeats, especially playing at home. That’s three wins on the bounce here now, so that’s a good feeling. We deserved more goals, I felt. We were in control, created chances, their goalkeeper produced some good saves, we hit the post three times. Also, we defended well when we needed to as a group, so, overall, I'm really pleased. At 2-0 we were still pressing, still pushing, we had control of the game. I would have liked it to have been more, but the most important thing was the three points."

Match data

Goals: Spurs – Kane 45, Hojbjerg 62.

Yellow card: Spurs - Tanganga.

Referee: Martin Atkinson.

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Weather: Sunshine, gentle breeze, 13 degrees.