Unfortunately, the signings made in the summer have not really paid off, with Begovic exposed by the defenders in front of him and Jermain Defoe yet to get into his goal-scoring rhythm. Chelsea youngster Nathan Ake was on loan at the Vitality Stadium last season, so knows the club and will be looking to shore up the Cherries defence, alongside former Spurs full/wing backs Adam Smith and Charlie Daniels.  The partnership of Steve Cook and Simon Francis that has been relied on for a while at Bournemouth may be getting a little tired, with Francis turning 32, but they still seem up for the battle, although Harry Kane does appear to enjoy playing against them.

In midfield, there are a number of battling players, but the "fantasy" is missing, making it hard for chances to be created for the front man.  Jordan Ibe is perhaps their most creative player but he isn't a regular starter, meaning a lot of the supply comes from the defenders getting wide to put the ball into the box.  Harry Arter can prompt attacks from a central position, but that relies on the pace of Josh King getting to the through balls beyond the opposition defence.  Surman can provide openings from free-kicks.  With Callum Wilson cruelly hit by injury since promotion to the Premier League, Josh King has led the line well last season, but his hamstring injury picked up while away with Norway last week, might just leave Jermain Defoe to provide their main attacking threat.  Experienced at holding the ball up for the main out ball, the former Spurs striker still has the ability to score goals when in a struggling team, as he proved last season at Sunderland,  but he will need midfielders to get up in support quickly, as he may not have come up against a back three like Spurs will be playing.  Benik Ofobe, the former Gooner and Democratic Republic of Congo international, is another option for Howe, but rumours are that he might be sold in January.

Normally, this might be a straightforward proposition on paper, but football is played on grass and there's the rub.  Tottenham's recent away form has been exemplary and coming back to Wembley, can they take the confidence of the games on the road and translate it into points at home ?  If anything, the international break came at the wrong time for Spurs, but Kane's good goal-scoring form continued and Eriksen hit the net for Denmark, while Winks' debut for his country will have given him a big boost.  Dele's form for England didn't show much different to his recent form for us, but while he isn't pleasing the headline writers, he is making a contribution to the side and the calls for him to be dropped are a little extreme.

Bournemouth will make it tough for us, as they are in desperate need of the points too, so it will be a war of attrition for Spurs to wear them down, but plying as they have done in the last three away matches will bring a win and a break to the media inspired "hoodoo".
 

TV
Sky Sports 1 -  Game of the Day -  Saturday 20.00
Match of the Day  (BBC 1) - Saturday 22.20 (highlights)   [repeated at 07:35 Sunday]  Also available online.
Goals on Saturday (Sky Sports 1) - Sunday 10.30 (repeated at 21.00)
Match of the Day 2  (BBC 1) - Sunday 22.30 (highlights)  Also available online.

For coverage in all parts of the world, check here and here.

Radio :  
BBC LONDON 94.9FM (London area only), Digital Radio (London area only) &  Sky Channel 0152  (live coverage)
Commentary may be found on
>   BBC Radio Five Live (live coverage)  606/939 MW
>  TalkSport (DAB or 2nd89 MW)
>  Absolute Radio  (1215 AM/MW)

If available on BBC radio, it can supposedly be heard in these countries on these stations ...
Australia (Melbourne) SEN  -  116 AM  Live Transmissions: TWI, Saturday. 12.45 & 15.00 matches
Australia (Sydney)  Radio 2  -  1611AM  Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 12.45 Match
Singapore Media Corp Radio  -  93.8 FM  Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 15.00 Match
South Africa  SABC (Radio 2000)  Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 15.00 Match
Uganda  Radio 1 (English) 90.0 FM, Radio 2 (Lugandan) 87.9 FM  Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 15.00 Match
North America (USA, Canada, Mexico, Caribbean)  Sirius Satellite Radio  Live transmission: Saturday - 12.45, 15.00 (TWI) & 17.15 (BBC) Saturday - 14.00 & 16.05 (BBC) Mon, Tue, Wed - Various times (BBC)

Internet :
www.spurs.co.uk   Live webcast  - subscribers only
BBC London - http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2005/2nd/12/live_commentaries_feature.shtml click on link to "Listen to Tottenham Hotspur live commentary" on top right hand menu.

  2  Kieran TRIPPIER
  4  Toby ALDERWEIRELD
  6  Davinson SANCHEZ
  5  Jan VERTONGHEN

15  Eric DIER
29  Harry WINKS

20  DELE Alli  (14  Georges-Kevin NKOUDOU  90+3)
23  Christian ERIKSEN 
  7  Heung-Min SON  (17  Moussa SISSOKO  75)

10  Harry KANE  (18  Fernando LLORENTE  85)

Unused subs: 
13  Michel VORM
24  Serge AURIER
37  Kyle WALKER-PETERS
21  Juan FOYTH
 

15  Adam SMITH       (33  Jordan IBE  75)
  2  Simon FRANCIS
  3  Steve COOK     
  5  Nathan AKE
11  Charlie DANIELS

16  Lee COOK  (31  Lys MOUSSET  83)
  6  Andrew SURMAN
19  Roger STANISLAS  (18  Jermain DEFOE  75)
  4  Dan GOSLING

17  Josh KING

Unused subs: 
  1  Artur BORUC
  7  Marc PUGH
  8  Harry ARTER
  9  Benik AFOBE
 

While Spurs laboured to a 1-0 win over Bournemouth thanks to a Christian Eriksen goal in the second minute of the second half, they will be indebted to Hugo Lloris, who pulled off two fantastic stops to keep a clean sheet and ensure that Tottenham took the three points from this match.

With the weather taking a turn for the warmer, a bumper crowd turned out, probably assisted by the 20 pound price tag (please note Daniel Levy). bringing 73,000 to the national stadium for a game that barely sold out White Hart Lane over the last couple of seasons.  What they saw was a bit of a turgid first half, with the second period livening up after Spurs scored the early goal and Bournemouth then had to come out a bit, leaving opportunity for Tottenham to hit them on the break.  With the internationals restored to the club, only Ben Davies didn't make the line-up, with illness keeping him out of the starting XI.

Bournemouth started tentatively, maintaining a back five, with a row of four in front of them, leaving Josh King to hunt down the ball on his own as the ball out of defence.  It rarely worked and the ball kept ending up with a white shirt and possession racked up, but Tottenham found it hard to work a way through the defensive set-up.   Working a Spurs back four gave Jan Vertonghen plenty of scope to venture forward on the left wing and his moves there did disturb the ease with which they were coping with most of the Tottenham moves, which lacked tempo and sharpness of passing, with a few over-hit as they looked to go beyond the Cherries back line.  One low cross in by Jan almost found Kane, but Begovic got there first.  As Spurs tried to find a way through, there was always a black and red shirt to run into or thrown in the way to block a shot.

The closest Spurs got to a goal came more through luck than judgement, when Eriksen fired a volley from deep beyond the back post from Trips' corner, but it was flying across goal, until Dele tried an audacious effort, by throwing up a back heel, but the ball flew over the bar.  From that point on, Spurs could easily have gone behind.  First, Smithy chased down a long ball up the right and pulled it back for Stanislas to fire at goal and only a block off Davinson's chest stopped the ball going in.  When a  corner came in from the other side, the ball was missed at the near post and it hit Dier, bringing Hugo into action with a marvellous reflex save close to his body down to his left, as he scooped the ball away from goal.  The ball dropped to Kane and it seemed like an eternity until he got it out from under his foot and cleared it away.  The ball came back in from Lee Cook, but his shot flew a yard over the bar.

Steve Cook was the first player into the referee's notebook with a rash late slide into Kane, who then produced the first shot on target for Tottenham, firing Christian's chip over the top low to Begovic's left, but the keeper got a good hand to it and pushed it wide.  From that corner, Alderweireld couldn't get over the ball and his header went close but too high.  Adam Smith then entered the book for bringing down Jan fairly cynically, but that was about it for the first half action.  The Indian dancers celebrating Diwali during the break was much more entertaining.

That all changed within 100 seconds of the restart.  Davinson Sanchez played a straight ball into Kane's feet, with his back to goal.  He laid it off to Eriksen and while Francis slid in, he neither won the ball or blocked it, with his ineffectual challenge leaving the opportunity for Christian to slot the ball inside the post beyond the keeper's right hand to give Tottenham the lead.  It was a well worked move and came after Pochettino had reverted to a back three after half time, resulting in more chances coming Tottenham's way.

The ball was in the net again in the 58th minute, when Kane glanced home Eriksen's cross, but was adjudged to be offside, then, as Spurs exploited Bournemouth's need to equalise, he was twice denied by Begovic.  Harry was back in defence for a Cherries corner, but managed to pick out a 50 yard ball that just cleared Smith's head to find Dele on the left wing.  The move ended with a dangerous low Trippier near post cross being cleared.  A through ball from halfway split the central defenders and Kane found a run on goal, but Begovic closed him down and then, when Dele recycled the ball to him, he couldn't beat the keeper, who was right on top of him again.  The England captain wasn't quite as accurate when he tried a volley on the right of the goal and sliced it out for a throw-in on the other side of the pitch !

Although most of Jan's work was high up the left wing, he did all the defensive side of his job well, denying Stanislas as it looked like he might be in for a shot and while Dele isn't enjoying the best spell of his career at the moment, people should look at the work he does off the ball, with one shuttle-running episode putting pressure on the Bournemouth side in their own half as they looked to build a move.

With 15 minutes left, Sissoko replaced Son and Bournemouth went a bit more attacking bringing on Defoe and Ibe for Smith and Stanislas.  Within two minutes of the changes, it looked like the Law of the Ex would strike as Ibe played Jermain in on the right side of goal.  Turning sharply, he hit a low shot at goal that was heading just inside the post, as Lloris went across goal, but he stuck out his left foot and blocked the effort for a corner.  From the corner, it was played back in and King couldn't get his header on target, putting it too high over the goal. 

Jan got a yellow card for clothes-lining Ibe as he looked to break from a Spurs corner, but good play between Trippier, Eriksen and Dier saw the latter drag the ball back to make space for a shot which flew off Cook for a corner.  As the visitors looked to get something out of the game, Tottenham picked them off on the break.  The only thing missing was a second goal, with Sissoko picking out a good cross that Dele headed just wide as he dived in and got a face full of boot for his troubles.  Then, deep into injury time and only 30 seconds after he had come on, GK Nkoudou got the ball as Spurs had four players against on defender.  Sissoko's pass was a little too far ahead of the winger, but he got there first before being cleared out by Begovic, just outside the box.  The ball ran loose to Winks, who shot over, but the whistle had already gone for a free-kick, which the keeper was booked for, but the excessive force, when Georges-Kevin was through and looked set to score, might easily have been a red.  After lengthy treatment, Nkoudou had to go off and Eriksen lined up the free-kick, which he put under the wall, but without sufficient power or direction to beat Begovic, who was right behind it.

And that was it.  A first Premier League win at Wembley and another decent home performance, which just about got what it deserved.  Bournemouth's game plan to pack the back line and midfield nearly worked, but for one player's error that let Christian in, but then better finishing at the end might have brought a bigger margin of victory.  As it was, there were good performances all round and the tactical change Poch put into place at half-time looked to have been the one factor that swung the game Tottenham's way.

So, it is one monkey off the back and hopefully that will allow the side to play with more confidence at home, but it's Liverpool up next and they will be looking to better their own record against the top six, so a tough one lies ahead.

But for today, the majority of the 73,502 went home happy.

Gary Sampson