Tottenham Hotspur overcame early wastefulness and a first-half red card to edge out Luton Town 1-0 at Kenilworth Road and rise to the top of the Premier League table.
It would seemingly be one of those days for Ange Postecoglou’s team, who lost Yves Bissouma to a foolish red card right before the break, but Micky van de Ven’s second-half effort proved decisive as Rob Edwards’s men were left to rue their own carelessness with an extra player on the field.
Unsurprisingly sending an unchanged starting XI out at Kenilworth Road, Postecoglou cut a frustrated figure on several occasions in the early exchanges, as Tottenham spurned a plethora of gilt-edged chances to break the deadlock
Richarlison was guilty of missing an open goal at the back post with just three minutes gone, one moment before Thomas Kaminski stuck a foot out to deny the Brazilian after James Maddison slipped him through.
Pedro Porro was the next to prod wide of the Luton goal in the seventh minute during a relentless period of Spurs pressure, which Luton somehow emerged from unscathed before starting to get a foothold in the game.
Spurs remained a significant threat in the final third, though, and on the half-hour mark, Pape Sarr stole possession in midfield and drove at the Luton backline before laying off Dejan Kulusevski, who tried to find the far corner but was denied by a full-stretch save from Kaminski.
Tottenham’s profligacy would very nearly haunt them in the 39th minute, as the visitors failed to deal with a free kick and Tom Lockyer nodded home from a yard out after Elijah Adebayo’s looping effort struck the post and fell kindly for his captain.
Lockyer took a kick to the head from Destiny Udogie for his troubles, but the referee’s whistle blew for a foul on Cristian Romero from Adebayo, and the game remained goalless.
Tottenham were granted three minutes of added time to finally wear their hosts down, but it was the Luton fans who were in full voice just before the whistle blew, as Bissouma – who was already on a yellow card – inexplicably dived to try to win a free kick and was given his marching orders.
On the back of his nightmare first half, the profligate Richarlison was sacrificed for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg at the break, but it was Luton’s turn to waste a magnificent chance within the first 90 seconds of the second half, as Chiedozie Ogbene squared for Adebayo to seemingly tap the ball home, but the Hatters striker could not sort his feet out and the ball trickled harmlessly wide.
In the end, Edwards’s side would be left to rue that howler, as with 51 minutes on the clock, Maddison skilfully jinked his way past Alfie Doughty on the byline and cut back for Van de Ven to score his first Tottenham goal with a first-time side-footed strike.
Following the international break, Spurs host Fulham in a London derby on October 23, while Luton travel to Nottingham Forest two days beforehand.
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