NB: Video on this article has been removed in accordance to international license restrictions.
By Greg Robertson
Hello and welcome to Liberty Stadium where Swansea hosting Spurs in what will be a cracker.
Plenty has been made of Manchester United running away with the Premier League title but there’s still plenty to play for elsewhere in the league.
What will be the Gareth Bale influence today? The go-to man was running hot before the International break… will it continue?
We bring you live streaming written commentary, video highlights and all the action of the English Premier League. Make sure you REFRESH your browser occasionally so you don’t miss any of the action. VIDEO will be available as soon as the final whistle goes.
------------------------------------
LIVE COMMENTARY: Swansea 1 – 2 Tottenham
FULLTIME: Tottenham wins 2-1. ALL VIDEO UP.
90+5 MINS - Parker carded fro a crude challenge from behind on Monk. Parker was heading toward the corner flag before Monk pinched it. Bale away... smacks it straight at Vorm.
90+3 MINS - Tempers are flaring on the sideline and attention turns there as opposition coaching staff have a few words to each other - no doubt inviting each other around for a friendly pint, or two in this case.
90 MINS - Gareth Bale with a goal-SAVING challenge. He's in his own penalty box and gets his body on the line... hold on, FIVE ADDED MINUTES!
89 MINS - Here comes Swansea with five in the attack... Holtby dives in this time and he's now in the book. Spurs are lucky there's not 15 minutes left on the clock, they might have ended up with only nine or so on the park.
86 MINS - Players diving in left and right as Swansea break and the ref waves play on again... and again... advantage, and then they lose the ball and no going back for the free kicks. Then Jermain Defoe is into some space and blasts one low, Vowm like a cat grabs it. Great save.
84 MINS - Delicious bouncing ball square into the box but it's knocked out by walker before it can do any damage. They are looking a little flustered at the back, Tottenham, so they decide to head north and camp inside the Swansea area for a bit.
79 MINS - Michu's involved in another clash... this time with Vertonghen.... some dodgy stuff on the ground. There's a few more collisions going on now... and there's an edge to it... and there's some fire and it's likely someone may get sent off if these challenges continue. The tension is building.
75 MINS - Good play from the home side, they've livened up and are starting to hum.
73 MINS - The break away's on for Spurs and Defoe takes a defender away and suddenly it's one-on-one with Bale and a defender, the Welshman also taking the shot on and clips the post. VIDEO UP
70 MINS - Match going through a stale patch where Swansea reflects on chances had and missed and Spurs changes focus to not giving away a goal. Michue gives Routledge half a sniff, but the ball skids away from him and any chance on goal is lost. GOAL! Michu scores. Free from the corner again and Michu climbs and picks his spot! VIDEO UP.
68 MINS - Davis nearly gets away down the left edge for Swansea but he checks and comes back, Walker gets booked for a challenge he made about three minutes ago....
62 MINS - Michu in trouble here... Parker down after the challenge as Swansea broke and the switch was searching for Michu, the two players smashing together and clashing heads. Michu gets a yellow card. Neither player backed off then.
62 MINS - Bale to Lennon and he hits the byline to win a corner. Adebayor leaving for Spurs and Jermain Defoe onto the pitch.
59 MINS - Bale with a long throw almost finds Sigurdsson in some spave in front of goal... just can't quite drag it in.
55 MINS - Michu a whisker away! Dawson losing his footing and Michu for Swansea takes advantage of it, getting his head to a great ball in but can only head it skidding wide. De Guzman off for Swansea, i on.
51 MINS - Ohhh Lennon with some fluid dribbling on the edge of the area and squares it off to Sigurdsson who bends it, Vorm with the first save but only as far as Bale and he cracks one with the head, Vorm saving again. VIDEO UP.
48 MINS - Dyer brought down just outside the box... it's taken quickly and Ohhh great save Brad Friedel with Michu being played through from Dyer's quick thinking, Michu's first-time shot had an equal. VIDEO UP
46 MINS - No halftime changes for either side, but can Swansea change their fortunes? Swansea kick off..
HALFTIME - Tottenham leads 2-0
45 MINS - Tottenham goes from defence to attack in a blink of a gnat's eye... and then to take the piss somewhat after being hit on attack, play it all the way back.... and around the other edge of the pitch... 'keepsies' it's called right now. TWO ADDED MINUTES
42 MINS - Swansea players yet to show their shooting boots with De Guzman going over the top.
38 MINS - Spurs just have lost their way a little and they'll be doing well to get the seven minutes to halftime and get some direction from the boss. Swansea will be hoping to nab one while Tottenham stumbles about. And they are sending a number of attacks on the Spurs' goal, right now.
35 MINS - Huge chance for Swansea as Nathan Dyer heads onto the bar from three yards! Great chance lost. VIDEO UP.
34 MINS - Chico being as highly ambitious as ever and setting sights from about 35 yards, doesn't get one yard as Parker gets a leg in front of it.
30 MINS - In fact Swansea going through an upswing in possession, looking sharp with it too...Davies tries a searching through ball to find Michu but he can't scamper that quick. Back at the other end, they give the balla way to Bale right out in front... he beats one, beats a second and then uses the outside of his left foot to smack one just wide. Great play. VIDEO UP.
25 MINS - Friedel parries a shot away, I was cutting video so missed who shot but it was a shot that says Swansea isn't giving up.
23 MINS - Bale SCORES! What a goal, fast feet to control then stike and bang! Great goal. This time it's Vertonghen that supplied the ball to Bale. VIDEO UP.
20 MINS - Tiendalli gets on the end of a lovely little one-two and cuts a ball back low and hard on the angle and put out for the corner. Ohhh Michu gets up and heads wide. He had half a yard to move there and any other day that might have hit the back of the net.
17 MINS - Twenty=two Tottenham passes so far in this movement that has swept left, then right and back to the left again and now they're probing back on the right... or left now actually, and the passes have flowed much more than the 22 now... I could ramble on, but it would be simpler to say when on the ball Tottenham are in complete control.
13 MINS - Adebayor away and on goal with just Vorm to beat and he hits it right at Vorm, getting it stuck underneath, almost sitting on it. That needed a simple, clinical finish and Adebayor stuffed it right up. But what a ball from Dembele. Immaculate. VIDEO UP.
10 MINS - That goal really came from nothing.... suddenly the 'on' switch was flicked and bang, Spurs leads 1-0. Swansea work the ball around.... trying to find a way to eirce but there's not many openings right now.
7 MINS - Nathan Dyer and three others flash into Tottenham's box.... and it's whipped out of their just as quick by a strong, well set defence. Spurs still working the ball about and GOAL!!!! Spurs are leading 1-0. A great ball over the top and Vertonghen with a lovely touch and then a quick dink past Vorm. Great ball from Bale. VIDEO UP.
3 MINS - All the play so far in the middle third.... it's battle of middle earth at Liberty Stadium.
1 MINS - We're underway and Swansea, in 9th, are in white. The build up and the warm ups, both teams looked very, very sharp and ready to mix it in this one.
Kick off in seconds...
Here are the teams...
Swansea: Vorm, Tiendalli, Chico, Williams, Davies, Britton, De Guzman, Routledge, Dyer, Hernandez, Michu. Subs: Tremmel, Bartley, Monk, Ki, Lamah, Moore, Shechter.
Tottenham: Friedel, Walker, Dawson, Vertonghen, Naughton, Parker, Dembele, Bale, Sigurdsson, Lennon, Adebayor. Subs: Archer, Assou-Ekotto, Caulker, Livermore, Holtby, Huddlestone, Defoe.
Kick-off isn’t far away but in the meantime you can watch video highlights of Tottenham enjoying a win against Arsenal.
------------------------------------
Possible line-ups:
Swansea (Possible, 4-2-3-1): Vorm; Rangel, Chico, Williams, Davies; De Guzman, Ki; Routledge, Michu, Hernandez; Moore.
Tottenham (Possible, 4-2-3-1): Lloris; Walker, Dawson, Vertonghen, Assou-Ekotto; Dembélé, Parker; Lennon, Bale, Sigurdsson; Defoe.
Pregame Banter:
Tottenham coach Andre Villas-Boas spoke ahead of his side's English Premier League clash with Swansea this weekend.
Recent defeats against Liverpool and Fulham mean the seven-point lead Tottenham once held over north London rivals Arsenal has started to evaporate.
A Tottenham defeat at Swansea, and an Arsenal victory against Reading this weekend would see Arsene Wenger's men cut the gap to one point having played one match less.
Tottenham fans are aware that their team has been in this position before.
Last year they threw away a 10-point lead over their Arsenal rivals and, although Villas-Boas is convinced his team are made from stronger stuff this year, he knows they must start winning soon if they are to maintain their push for a top-four finish and a place in next season's UEFA Champions League.
"We have done excellent enough to bridge the gap before, but now with two league defeats our opponents are closer to us and we have to recognise the conditions have changed but towards the future we have eight games but as it shifted so quickly for us it shifts very quickly for any team in the Premier League when you don't get the results so we have to put our act together for the rest of the fixtures to reach our objective,” says coach Villas Boas.
About Tottenham losing their points advantage over Arsenal” "This is something that has happened before but it doesn't mean it will happen again. This year the circumstances are different, the training is different, the leader is different, the players are different so at this moment it has nothing to do with past experience.
"My message to the fans is that we are perfectly within our objectives. The margin (over Arsenal) is a little bit less than what was before but if we had that margin it was because we were excellent doing our job so that doesn't mean we can't be excellent again doing our job. That is why we believe a lot in the players and what they are doing and we are still involved in the quarter-finals of a European competition so, at the moment, these are all positive aspects for us."
3 News
source: newshub archive
