BEFORE WE GET CARRIED AWAY with this Spurs breaking into the top four nonsense…
Oops. Too late. Several football fans are already trying to talk themselves into the notion that the mighty Tottenham Hotspur Football Club is capable of penetrating the force field that Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal have established atop the English Premier League.
A glance at the current standings even suggests that it’s not only possible, but perhaps probable, given the way Spurs have started the 2009-10 campaign. Four league games, four wins, tied atop the table with the stinking Blues.
But, and with my beloved Spurs there’s always a qualifier of some sort, a closer look Tottenham’s performance reveals a borderline amazing set of circumstances that has led to the team’s unbeaten start.
Let’s review.
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Game 1: Liverpool
Spurs’ 2-1 win at White Hart Lane over the boys from Anfield certainly got the season off to a rousing start. But I’ve watched the match at least five times and I still can’t quite believe it happened.
Benoit Assou-Ekotto scored his first, and so far only, professional goal and Sebastien Bassong scored for the first, and so far only, time in the Premier League. There may not have been two players more unlikely to score than that pair of Spurs defenders.
A late challenge in the box from Assou-Ekotto on Andriy Voronin could easily have been called a penalty. Luckily for Tottenham, it wasn’t, because everybody knows that Steven Gerrard would have taken the spot kick, and Stevie G does not miss from the spot.
Game 2: Hull City
Jermain Defoe’s hat trick highlighted what was Spurs’ most complete performance of the season, a 5-1 win at the KC Stadium. Wilson Palacios blasted home his first goal in a Tottenham shirt and Robbie Keane added a sweet header during Spurs’ dismantling of the Tigers.
This was a thorough beatdown and Tottenham was in control throughout. Nothing fluky about this one.
Game 3: West Ham
Any win over the Hammers is a good one and Aaron Lennon’s game-winner was absolutely sublime.
But Spurs may not have had the chance to win 2-1 if West Ham striker Carlton Cole hadn’t inexplicably delivered a pinpoint pass back to Defoe, who hammered home the equalizer after Cole’s brilliant goal put his team in front 1-0.
Tottenham was the better team, no doubt. But even good teams need luck and Spurs surely received their fair share of good fortune that day at Upton Park. Thank you very much, Mr. Cole.
Game 4: Birmingham City
Another mesmerizing game-winning strike from Lennon salvaged three more points for Tottenham in a 2-1 triumph at WHL, but again, Spurs got help from an opponent.
Peter Crouch’s header off a beautiful pass from Tom Huddlestone put Tottenham ahead, but some truly dreadful defending allowed Birm City to level the score just minutes later.
Lennon saved the day, but only after Birmingham’s Stephen Carr, a former Spur, slipped near midfield, lost possession of the ball and allowed Tottenham to make one final push toward the goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time. Lennon then beat the clock and the Blues.
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Now this isn’t to say that Spurs don’t deserve the 12 Premier League points they’ve accumulated thus far. In truth, every team deserves to finish where it does, bad breaks, bad luck or bad calls be damned.
But it’s in my DNA as a Tottenham fan to be, not defeatist, but at the very least skeptical of this cracking start to the season. Don’t get me wrong. I’m enjoying every minute of it, but I can’t help but think things are going to take a turn for the worse any minute now.
(And things surely did begin to go that route after Luka Modric fractured a bone in his leg during the Birm City game. He’s out for at least six weeks. Curses!)
While winning the first four games is great, the next two — home to Man U, at Chelsea — will provide us with a better understanding of just how good Spurs truly are, or aren’t.
For now, my beloved THFC is top of the table. It would be unbelievably satisfying, not to mention surprising, if I can say that a month from now.
