Spurs 3-2 Brentford

The report in full...

The visitors went ahead at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after 12 minutes through Neal Maupay and we trailed at the break after a frustrating first half, but three goals in nine minutes early in the second period – from Destiny Udogie, Brennan Johnson and Richarlison - changed the complexion of the game. The visitors pulled one back through Ivan Toney in the 67^th minute but we held firm to pick up maximum points and move into the top four of the Premier League.

There was a lively tempo to the game in the early stages and Oliver Skipp saw a shot blocked four minutes in before Brentford had the ball in the net in the 12^th minute, Mads Roerslev with a tidy finish however the flag went up as Mathias Jensen was offside in the build-up. But the visitors did take the lead three minutes later, Toney played in on goal and, although Guglielmo Vicario pulled off an excellent save, Maupay was on to the rebound to prod it home.

It became a bit tetchy at times with a few confrontations between the players, perhaps a touch of frustration on our part as we were seeing plenty of the ball but struggled to break down Brentford, who dropped everyone back out of possession and made life difficult for us.

Their goalkeeper Mark Flekken made a good save on 21 minutes, getting down late to push Timo Werner’s low shot past the upright and the German then headed wide at the back post from the corner. Moments later, James Maddison’s shot was blocked before Richarlison’s 20-yard curler flew a yard wide.

An excellent intervention from Skipp denied Maupay a second as he shaped to shoot after a clever ball played him in and, from the corner, Ethan Pinnock’s cheeky backheel drifted a yard wide. Then, as the clock approached 45 minutes, Jensen’s free-kick from the left was headed goalwards by Toney but Vicario pushed it away to safety.

We needed a fast start to open the second half – and wow, did we get it! Three minutes in, Udogie broke forwards and played the ball down the left flank to Werner, continued his run and received a return pass inside the area. His initial shot was blocked by Pinnock, but quick as a flash the Italian drilled the rebound past Flekken.

Just 72 seconds later, Werner was streaking down the wing again and this time drilled an inviting low cross for Johnson – a half-time substitution - to tap home at the back post, sparking great celebrations inside the stadium. And in the 56^th minute, Udogie slipped a ball into Maddison whose shot was blocked by Pinnock, but it fell to Richarlison to tuck home from six yards out. That was his seventh goal in his last seven Premier League appearances.

The visitors should have pulled one back on 64 minutes when Maupay’s low cross found Toney 12 yards out, but he dragged his eventual shot wide however, it was 3-2 just seconds later, Udogie playing a pass back to Vicario without realising Toney was just hanging around on the edge of our box and the Bees striker made no mistake this time.

The closing stages saw Brentford push for the equaliser while we tried to hit them on the break whenever we won back possession and they went close to a leveller in the 93^rd minute but Vicario superbly tipped over Sheldon Baptiste’s volley.

Team news saw two changes from the side that lost to Manchester City in the FA Cup last Friday, Skipp and Maddison in the starting line-up with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Johnson dropping to the bench.