Tottenham Hotspur have taken all three points from their Premier League clash with Nottingham Forest at home this afternoon and Antonio Conte will be relieved that his side has delivered a confident performance after crashing out of the Champions League earlier this week.
The Lilywhites are now six points clear of Liverpool following their loss to Bournemouth earlier today, sitting comfortably in fourth and now just one point behind Manchester United ahead of their meeting with Southampton tomorrow.
The home side dominated in every area of the pitch with more possession (56%), more shots on target (7 v 5), more duels won (51 v 43) and more accurate passes completed (426 v 310) against their opponents, taking a deserved 3-1 victory.
In the first half, Spurs got off to a fast start when Richarlison found the back of the net in the 4th minute, however, Forest were in luck when a VAR decision for offside cancelled the goal.
Steve Cooper’s lucky escape from going behind early didn’t last long though as the inevitable Harry Kane finally gave his team the lead in the 19th minute which was quickly followed up with a penalty scored by the England captain to double the lead and secure his brace ahead of the half-time whistle.
In the second half, the North Londoners continued to dominate and it was Son Heung-Min’s turn to get on the scoresheet with his strike partner in the 62nd minute.
Indeed, Nottingham Forest refused to go down without a fight and took advantage of Spurs’ lapse in concentration towards the final minutes of the game with Joe Worrall delivering a consolation goal in the 81st minute to complete the score-line at the final whistle as 3-1.
There were many players who needed to redeem themselves after the humiliating defeat to AC Milan on Wednesday night, though none more so than Cristian Romero with the defender receiving a red card in the European clash in front of the home support and he certainly delivered against Forest.
How did Christian Romero perform vs Nottingham Forest?
The fiery centre-back is renowned for his penchant for picking up bookings over his career so far with 63 yellow and five red cards to his name so far, however, Conte will surely be thrilled that Romero put the negative disruptive behaviour earlier in the week firmly behind him.
Over his 90-minute performance, the 24-year-old sensation had 96 touches of the ball losing possession just five times throughout, completed 76 accurate passes, and completed 100% of his ground duels, as well as winning two tackles and completing a whopping nine clearances in a performance he can be proud of.
In fact, Romero completed more touches, accurate passes, and clearances than any of his other teammates on the pitch, proving that he is an incredibly valuable asset to his team and the manager despite his temperament.
The Argentine international was crucial to the win as his stoic defending provided the platform from which the attacking players built their attacks to go and win the match.
Therefore, Romero was the real hero for Spurs of Kane, in spite of the forward’s two goals, as his play at the back was the catalyst for the rest of the good work by his teammates.
It remains to be seen as to whether the Spurs boss has done enough today to keep his job safe until, at least, the end of the season with reports this week that the Italian could be seeing out his final days holding the reigns at the club.