Eriksen Wins It for Spurs Against Sunderland as Strikers Past and Present Toil

LONDON — Things have a funny way of working out like this in football. Back in England with Sunderland after a spell at Toronto FC, Jermain Defoe's debut was against Tottenham Hotspur—his home and employer for the best part of a decade.

Neither Defoe nor any of his fellow strikers were responsible for the three goals in Tottenham's 2-1 win. Jan Vertonghen opened the scoring, Sebastian Larsson equalised for the away team and Christian Eriksen scored the late winner. Their contributions did shape the game, though—damagingly so, as it turned out, on the Sunderland side of things.

But first, the story of Spurs' front-men.

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Roberto Soldado kept his place in the side after two assists in Wednesday's FA Cup third round replay win over Burnley. He had failed to find the net (hitting the bar from close range in one moment), but had been praised by head coach Mauricio Pochettino for his overall performance, per The Telegraph.

Soldado's selection meant Harry Kane—rested midweek—was dropped into a deeper role among Spurs' attacking midfielders. Given his penchant to occupy such positions in any given game anyway, his adjusted responsibilities were not that unfamiliar.

The two were involved in Spurs' first move prior to Vertonghen's third minute opener and thereafter played as their positions dictated.

Kane was a willing conduit for his team-mates throughout. In the first-half, he tried to thread one through to the on-running Nacer Chadli, then later for Eriksen. He spread the play wide and also moved out to the flanks as part of Spurs' usual interchange of position in attacking midfield.

Soldado did his best to occupy the Sunderland defence, given his fellow forward was primarily tasked with unlocking the midfield.

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Early on, he received a Danny Rose cross but could find no-one with his lay-off. Later, Soldado was sent through on goal by Vertonghen, only to be denied by the quick-thinking Costel Pantilimon.

The two tried to combine throughout their hour on the pitch, too. On the 20th minute, Soldado almost found Kane with a reverse pass around the corner. The Spaniard would later succeed in teeing him up, only for the Englishman to be crowded out of possession.

Kane also hit the post after Spurs patiently passed in search of an opening during first-half stoppage-time.

Sunderland—unsurprisingly repeating the tactic adopted by so many Spurs-stifling opponents at White Hart Lane this season—stood their ground with a resolve and discipline which lasted for the best part of 90 minutes. Spurs kept trying but ran out of ideas for a time following the interval, reverting to crosses and predictable long-shots easily blocked.

"It was difficult because Sunderland played very deep with a lot of players on the counter-attack," Pochettino reflected in his post-match press conference. "We go forward and repeat but it was difficult to score."

Spurs' struggle to find a way through resulted in the introduction of the day's other notable returnee: Emmanuel Adebayor.

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The 30-year-old had not played since November's loss to Stoke City but immediately threw himself into proceedings when he charged down John O'Shea and Pantilimon. His greater physical presence compared to Soldado gave the Black Cats defence more to think about in the box, as he threatened at crosses from Chadli and fellow substitute Andros Townsend. 

Adebayor himself set up Kane with a precisely placed cross (though it was wrongly declared offside) and should have won a free-kick when O'Shea manhandled him just outside the box.

While the out-of-favour forward did not enjoy a scoring return, his cameo might have won him a further run-out against Sheffield United next week. By the time Eriksen notched his fourth second-half winner this season, he had contributed to battering Sunderland into the state of disorganisation which allowed the Dane to finish Townsend's break.

As hard as Tottenham grafted (which they did, admirably so from back to front), as patient as they were in working towards their ultimate reward, they were helped considerably by the profligacy of the Sunderland attack.

Steven Fletcher blazed wide after he went unmarked by Eric Dier. The Scot's blushes were spared by a trademark Larsson free-kick two minutes later. Substitute Danny Graham was not so fortunate.

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Twice he only had Hugo Lloris to beat, twice he fired straight at him. The score was 1-1 at the time of his first opportunity. A goal would have put Spurs under pressure in front of a home crowd weary of such circumstances from earlier in the campaign.

Gus Poyet did not say so, but he will have wished those chances could have fallen to Defoe, the man he replaced with Graham.

The former Spurs man won Larsson's free-kick and might have had a first-half penalty under pressure from Vertonghen (though this writer believes it would have been a soft call).

"I think he started bright, was sharp," Poyet reflected on his new signing. "If he got the penalty and scores we’re talking about a great debut. The referee did not see what everyone else saw clearly."

Otherwise, though, the Belgian had his former team-mate Defoe in his pocket all afternoon (that is, when he was not being caught offside). The chances that fell to Graham came at a point when Spurs had tired, though, and had Defoe still been on, their ex-poacher would surely have taken them.

"You need to be good all the time," Poyet rued on a day in which his team fielded two up-front. "That is the disappointing side."

"For a new formation, for a new way of playing, away at White Hart Lane, we were doing quite alright. It's a shame we didn't get something from the game."

Defoe might make the difference in the weeks to come. Pochettino and Tottenham will be grateful they have men like Eriksen to rescue them on days when things do not go to plan for their chief goal-getters.

Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.