Siewert keen to look for positives as Huddersfield Town suffer at Spurs

Victor Wanyama put Spurs on the road to an easy afternoon as they have now scored seven goals and conceded none back on their own patch.

Lucas Moura added a hat-trick, but the Terriers had their chances, Juninho Bacuna’s free-kick tipped onto the crossbar, while Jon Stankovic stabbed wide, before Steve Mounie drifted a header just wide.

Huddersfield’s return to the Championship is already guaranteed as they lost a 19th game from 21, but Siewert was pleased his players refused to give up the fight. “You see that they are,” he said. “Look at the players who came from the bench, they directly had an input – Steve [Mounie] had two good possibilities, and gave everything.

“There were about 3,700 supporters who came here to London today, a big trip for them, and we wanted to give them something.

“We really wanted to be the first team that scores here. We know that it’s not easy to play here, because if you give them space, they can run you ragged, they can do everything with the ball.

“We tried to avoid it, and conceding four goals doesn’t represent the way we played.

“When you are so brave, away at Tottenham, until the end, and you have three good possibilities to score, to be the first [away] team who could score here, it makes me proud in a way.

“But still, a lot of our mistakes, a lot of our individual mistakes [from which] they scored goals today.

“We knew that the qualities that shine in Tottenham, that you can’t defend everything. So I’m in a way disappointed, because the result doesn’t reflect the way we played today, at all.”

Any fears Spurs might have had about struggling to settle in at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium have been convincingly quashed after making it three wins from three there, with Moura earning himself a place in history with the first treble in the 62,062-seater arena.

Victor Wanyama put Spurs on the road to an easy afternoon as they have now scored seven goals and conceded none back on their own patch.

The routine nature of the win will also have been comforting to Mauricio Pochettino, who was without the injured Harry Kane and Dele Alli and left man of the moment Son Heung-min on the bench ahead of the Champions League quarter-final second leg at Manchester City on Wednesday.

Even in the absence of Kane, Alli and Son, it was an exercise of attack versus defence from the off as Spurs were camped in Huddersfield’s half, but with 10 men behind the ball the visitors were initially difficult to break down.

However, two goals in the space of three minutes eased any frustration and put Spurs in control.

Wanyama’s first goal since February 2018 broke the deadlock in the 24th minute as Fernando Llorente allowed Ben Davies’s pass to run into the path of the Kenyan midfielder, who rounded goalkeeper Ben Hamer and slotted home. Moura swiftly made it 2-0 when he fired a low shot into the bottom corner after being played through by the impressive Moussa Sissoko.

Stankovic had a chance to get Huddersfield back in it when he stabbed wide from a corner in a rare attack, but the traffic remained largely one way and Llorente passed up two good chances to extend the lead, the second a glancing header which went just wide.

The Spaniard, a beneficiary of Kane’s injury, came even closer to finding the net early in the second half as he superbly controlled Juan Foyth’s ball into the box and saw his instinctive volley rattle the crossbar.

Spurs had a string of chances to boost their goal difference but Moura drilled at Hamer, Llorente flashed another header wide and then also saw an effort blocked.

The hosts remained a constant threat, though, and after Christian Eriksen saw his deflected effort strike the post after a quick breakaway, Moura killed the game in the 87th minute when he slid home Eriksen’s cross.

And he completed his treble in injury time, with a brilliant finish after being played through by substitute Son.

Pochettino believes the race for the top four could come down to goal difference.

“For sure it’s going to be tough,” he said. “We are fighting against big sides and teams that are building to win the league or to win big trophies or be in the top four.

“We are going to fight against Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United. I think until the end it will be a very tough race.

“Goal difference can be decisive at the end of the season to achieve the top four.”

Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris, Foyth, Sanchez, Vertonghen (Rose 85), Walker-Peters, Sissoko (Skipp 74), Wanyama, Davies, Eriksen, Llorente (Son 87), Lucas Moura. Unused substitutes: Trippier, Alderweireld, Gazzaniga, Marsh.

Huddersfield: Hamer, Hadergjonaj , Schindler, Stankovic (Mooy 82), Kongolo, Durm (Mounie 69), Kachunga, Hogg, Bacuna (Williams 90), Lowe, Ahearne-Grant. Unused substitutes: Smith, Coleman, Pritchard, Jorgensen.

Referee: L Mason (Lancashire).