Spurs 2 - 2 StokeMame Biram Diouf completes Stoke comeback to deny Tottenham a first winHome team scorersEric Dier 19
Nacer Chadli 45 +1:22
Away team scorersMarko Arnautovic 78 Pen
Mame Diouf 83
Stoke's Mame Biram Diouf scores to make it 2-2 against Spurs in the Premier League
Mame Biram Diouf simply refused to be denied. Having seen two headers saved spectacularly by Tottenham’s returning goalkeeper, and new captain, Hugo Lloris, the forward did everything he could to make sure the one he delivered on 83 minutes finally beat the Frenchman. And it did to cap a remarkable game here in which the hosts led 2-0 at half-time but ultimately left with only a point.
Goals from Eric Dier and Nacer Chadli appeared to be sending Spurs to their first win of the season but, to their credit, Stoke refused to give up and in a spell of late pressure scored twice inside five minutes, first through a Marko Arnautovic penalty on 78 minutes and then through Diouf after he had connected with Stephen Ireland’s left-sided delivery at the near post. Cue bedlam among the already raucous travelling support and a rueful shake of the head by the Spurs manager, Mauricio Pochettino, as he looked on from the edge of his technical area.
Pochettino made two changes to the Spurs team that lost at Old Trafford last week, with Lloris making his first appearance since recovering from a wrist injury he sustained during pre-season, and Ryan Mason coming in for Nabil Bentaleb.
There was only one change to the Stoke team that also lost 1-0 last week, to Liverpool, with Arnautovic starting in place of Charlie Adam. Stoke’s record £12m signing, Xherdan Shaqiri, could not make his debut here due to a one-match suspension carried over from his time at Internazionale.
Prior to kick-off, Spurs’s five new arrivals were presented to the crowd, among them the Cameroon forward Clinton Njie, whose £10m transfer from Lyon was confirmed on Saturday morning. Having scored seven goals for Lyon last season, the 22-year-old does not arrive in north London with the most prolific of records, but equally he cannot do much worse than Roberto Soldado, who has joined Villarreal after scoring just seven goals in 52 appearances for Spurs.
A Spurs striker who definitely knows how to put the ball in the net is Harry Kane, and as well as making his first home appearance of the season, the 22-year-old was also making his 50th in the Premier League. He struggled to make an impact initially, however, as Stoke, lined-up in a 4-1-4-1 formation, denied space to the home team’s attacking players.
But it was Spurs who had the first notable chance of the game on six minutes when Christian Eriksen hit a low drive that forced Jack Butland to push the ball away for a corner. The same player forced the goalkeeper into doing the same shortly after with a curling free-kick from just outside the area.
Spurs were beginning to dominate but they almost fell behind on 12 minutes when Lloris under-hit a clearance straight into the path of Diouf. The striker drove the ball back at the goalkeeper but he was able to make a save.
The home team gradually re-established control and took the lead on 18 minutes when Dier glanced in Eriksen’s left-sided corner at the near post having easily got away from his marker, Marco Van Ginkel. It was the 21-year-old’s third goal for Spurs since arriving from Sporting Lisbon 12 months ago and, somewhat curiously, all of them have come in the month of August.
Looking for a way back into the match, Stoke started to play further up the field. But they struggled to make inroads against a Spurs side who were working hard to close down space inside their own half. But the visitors continued to dominate possession and territory and came close to equalising on 41 minutes when Arnautovic found space inside the area and delivered an inviting pass right across the face of the goal. Nobody in red and white could reach it however, but it was a warning to Spurs who by now had lost all control of proceedings.
They almost paid the price just before half-time when Diouf headed the ball at goal from an umarked position just yard out from how. Fortunately for Spurs, and as was so often the case last season, Lloris made a crucial save. Diouf’s header was close to the Frenchman’s grasp but he still did well to grab the ball from such little distance out.
Having survived a scare, Spurs then dealt the ultimate sucker-punch by scoring themselves just two minutes into first-half stoppage time. Kane and Ben Davies combined down the left flank and following the later’s cross to the back post, Chadli volleyed the ball past Butland.
Spurs were somewhat lucky to be 2-0 but having extended their lead, they really should have made it 3-0 five minutes after the interval. Chadli burst down the left wing and delivered a cross into the six yard area which Kane reached first thanks to a perfectly timed run. But the forward could only look on in shock as Butland brilliantly parried the subsequent effort. The ball did come off his Kane’s knee but, as he well knew, the goal was gaping.
Mark Hughes, the Stoke manager, reacted to the scare with a double substitution, bringing on Ireland and, for his debut, new £5.75m summer signing Joselu. The former had an immediate delivery when he delivered a cross into the six-yard area which Diouf headed towards goal. Again he looked certain to score and again Lloris came to the rescue, making an excellent an point-blank save. This match was now becoming a battle of the goalkeepers.
Pochettino made changes himself shortly after, replacing Kane with Erik Lamela and Mason with Bentaleb. Chadli became Spurs’s lone forward while Stoke had also changed the point of their attack with Joselu going up front and Diouf moving to the right flank.
And it was the Spaniard who played a crucial role in Stoke’s first goal after he was brought down by Toby Alderweireld on the edge of the Spurs area for a penalty on 78 minutes. Arnautovic buried the spot-kick under the reach of Lloris and, soon after, the Frenchman was picking the ball out of his net again.
Guardian
