Christian Eriksen spurs Tottenham twice in 2-2 draw against Swansea
Swansea 2 - 2 SpursHome team scorers
Andre Ayew 16
Harry Kane 31 o.g.
Away team scorers
Christian Eriksen 27
Christian Eriksen 65
Christian Eriksen celebrates after scoring his second goal for Tottenham against Swansea.
Christian Eriksen got so many shots away that it felt at times as if he was on a personal quest for the match ball, but there was no mistaking the importance of the two that counted. Tottenham’s Denmark playmaker had not completed 90 minutes since 15 August, a knee injury hampering his early-season form, but two free-kick equalisers blew away the cobwebs here and ensured deserved parity for his team in a vibrant game characterised by swagger on the ball and defensive jitters off it.
It is a return to prominence that might take further weight off Harry Kane, who seemed to take a step backwards after breaking his league duck last weekend and compounded a tentative display by slicing a Jonjo Shelvey corner into his own net for Swansea’s second goal.
If Eriksen’s first, which levelled the match after André Ayew’s early header, owed a little to iffy positioning from Lukasz Fabianski, his second was a marvellously clean shot that arrowed inside the post beyond the goalkeeper’s dive. Had one of three efforts from open play that all flew inches wide also found the corner, it would have crowned one of this Premier League season’s better individual performances.
“We know the quality he has in his shooting from free-kicks,” said Mauricio Pochettino of Eriksen, who scored a late winner in this fixture last season. “He’s a very professional player and I am very happy with him – not only because he scored the goals, but because of his commitment in attack and defence. He is a very important player for us.”
Swansea had not defeated Tottenham in eight attempts since their promotion in 2011 but, stung by a winless September that saw their irrepressible early form tail off while their opponents’ gained speed, took the lead. Gylfi Sigurdsson had space to drive forwards and direct the ball left to Jefferson Montero, who was similarly unhindered in checking inside and chipping over a cross that Ayew leapt to head neatly across Hugo Lloris. Jan Vertonghen, jumping too late with Ayew, was slow to react and while the goal’s conception had been elegant its simplicity would have infuriated Pochettino.
Parity arrived 11 minutes later after Federico Fernández fouled the excellent Dele Alli just outside the penalty area. Eriksen’s free-kick was an unusual effort – a flat, wobbling strike that found a gap to the left of the wall and seemed to deceive Fabianski as he moved to his right – but had the desired result, nestling centrally in the net.
With Tottenham on the front foot a goal from Kane should have raised few eyebrows but the manner of his intervention, four minutes afterwards, was more in keeping with his afternoon. Shelvey’s left-wing corner was low and seemingly underhit although perhaps Kane, manning the near post, could sense Ashley Williams prowling behind him. The striker’s attempt to clear resulted only in shin meeting ball, which torpedoed into the roof of Lloris’s net from a matter of feet.
This was an absorbing spectacle, Tottenham probing away and Swansea generally content to wait their moment before countering through the busy Montero. Bafétimbi Gomis should have done better than head a mishit Sigurdsson shot into the side netting after the interval and was made to pay when Eriksen, after Alli had been fouled again in an identical area, cracked in his coruscating second goal.
Both sides could have won it in the remaining 25 minutes, Fabianski saving from Alli and the substitute Andros Townsend before, deep into injury time, Lloris arced to touch a looping Fernández header on to the bar. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the managers were at odds over the fairness of the outcome.
“Maybe we dropped two points,” said Pochettino. “In the first half I was disappointed with the score – not the performance or effort, which were brilliant. But I think we played much better than Swansea and the only reason we didn’t win the game is that we lacked killer instinct in front of goal.”
It prompted Monk’s eyebrows to raise a notch. “They were never in the lead so I don’t know how you drop two points from that position,” he said. “Had we not conceded those two free-kicks we would probably have won the game.
It was a much better performance today, much more like ourselves. You could see that the passion and desire to win the game were massive.”
Man of the match Christian Eriksen
Guardian