Despite defeating Luton Town 1-0 in the second half while playing with 10 men, Tottenham Hotspur remained atop the Premier League table.
The game was decided by a brilliant play by James Maddison, who expertly outran his defender down the byline before crossing for Micky van de Ven to sidefoot in his first goal for the team since joining in the summer from Wolfsburg. For the first time since December 15, 2020, Spurs are in first place after eight games.
Richarlison (twice) and Pedro Porro had golden opportunities to score for Spurs in the first ten minutes of the game despite the fact that they had dominated the first half. After that, Dejan Kulusevski’s shot that was heading for the far corner was brilliantly deflected by Thomas Kaminski around a post.
Spurs’ annoyance increased as they were unnecessarily reduced to 10 men when Yves Bissouma, who had already been given a warning for a foul 10 minutes earlier, was shown a second one for diving right on the cusp of halftime.
Two minutes after halftime, Elijah Adebayo had a wonderful opportunity to give Luton the lead, but, like Richarlison’s first chance, the forward was unable to steer the ball in from three yards out.
A few minutes later, Van de Ven gave Spurs the lead, making him the club’s 167th different Premier League goal scorer, surpassing West Ham United and Newcastle United in the competition for the most unique goal scorers.
Jacob Brown missed a free header after Alfie Doughty crossed the ball for Luton, and he narrowly missed a shot as the visitors continued to create opportunities.
Spurs have 20 points after eight games, which is their best start since 1960/61, the year they won the Double.
Luton remain 17th with four points.
Rob Edwards (Luton): “They started strongly, we rode our luck for the first 10 minutes or so, then we found our way into the game. I think we then started to look a threat, out of possession we were solid and did really well.
