Tottenham made it two wins from their first three Premier League matches as James Maddison inspired them to victory at Bournemouth.
Maddison put Ange Postecoglou’s side ahead from Pape Matar Sarr’s sumptuous through-ball in the first half.
Bournemouth grew early in the second half, but their hopes of getting anything from the game were dashed when Destiny Udogie crossed for Dejan Kulusevski to tap past Neto and secure a 2-0 win.
Dom Smith was at the Vitality Stadium to rate the Tottenham performances…
Guglielmo Vicario — 7
Fearless on the ball with a couple of smart short passes to his defenders. Excellent save to deny Ryan Christie.
Pedro Porro — 7
A fierce runner down the right flank. Played well again.
Micky van de Ven — 8
Looks and plays mysteriously like Toby Alderweireld reincarnate. A strong runner on and off the ball.
Cristian Romero — 7
Should have scored with a second-half header, but his defensive duties were fulfilled well again.
Destiny Udogie — 8
His finest moment was orchestrating Spurs’s best move of the match: a dogged run towards the box and a fine cross for Kulusevski to convert the second. Hopefully his injury isn’t serious.
Pape Matar Sarr — 7
Let out a shriek in the first half when losing the ball under pressure at one point, but mostly this was a diligent and impressive display from a player growing in confidence all the time. Lovely assist.
Yves Bissouma — 7
Was given some rough treatment in the first half but delivered another impressive performance.
Dejan Kulusevski — 8
Busy display from the Swede, who ran at defenders and scored the second goal to seal the result.
James Maddison — 9 | Star player
Saw plenty of the ball and dictated play at times. Scored his first Spurs goal in the first half and was excellent on the half-turn throughout.
Son Heung-min — 7
Still not back to his searing best, but a few nice touches and fairly involved in Spurs’s better attacks.
Richarlison — 5
Excellent knock-on for Kulusevsi in the first half, but the recent of his involvements detracted from the team. Booked for a petulant kick-out.
Subs:
Ivan Perisic (Sarr, 59’) — 6
Decent enough, but his time as a Spurs starter may now be behind him.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (Richarlison, 60’) — 6
Hasn’t had much opportunity to impress Postecoglou yet, but was solid off the bench here.
Oliver Skipp (Maddison, 74’) — 7
Came on for the final 16 minutes to good effect.
Giovani Lo Celso (Bissouma, 74’) — 6
Desperate for the ball but didn’t see much of it.
Ben Davies (Udogie, 82’) — N/A
Subs not used: Forster, Sanchez, Emerson Royal, Solomon
