Tottenham have registered 20 points from their opening eight Premier League games this season (W6 D2), only in 1960-61 (21 points in first seven games converting to three points/win) have they done so in fewer games to begin a top-flight campaign
Saturday 7 October 2023 17:19, UK
Micky van de Ven's first goal in English football fired 10-man Tottenham to the Premier League summit with a 1-0 win at Luton - and manager Ange Postecoglou claimed his players are fully focused on "changing the destiny of the club".
Spurs entered this fixture following a controversial 2-1 victory over Liverpool last weekend, where Jurgen Klopp's side were denied a legitimate goal due to a "significant human error" by VAR operator Darren England.
It meant three points for Postecoglou's team at Kenilworth Road would send them to the summit for at least 24 hours, but they had to work hard for it after Yves Bissouma was sent off in first-half stoppage-time.
Bissouma was booked twice in quick succession by referee John Brooks, the second for simulation, but Van de Ven's close-range finish in the 52nd minute earned Tottenham a hard-fought win.
Speaking to TNT Sports after the narrow victory, Postecoglou said: "I don't think it is fair to compare to last season, and speak about what happened then. It is all credit to the players, the way they have bought into what we are trying to do.
"We are really tight as a group, which you see because not only are we winning games but apart from the football which has been good, the resilience we have shown has been great.
"The players want to change the destiny of this club and that is what they are trying to do on the pitch.
"I thought we needed a little more control. Pierre [Hoijberg] is an experienced player in the middle, and I thought we would still be a threat with Deki [Dejan Kulusevski] and Sonny up front.
"They put some balls in the box that we had to deal with, but he [Hojbjerg] was excellent in there keeping the ball away from our goal."
This was the first meeting between the clubs since 1992 and the hostile atmosphere was a throwback to that era with even TNT pundits Rio Ferdinand and Peter Crouch booed ahead of kick-off.
Spurs had put seven goals past the other newly-promoted teams this season and should have added to that tally inside 10 minutes.
Richarlison was guilty of fluffing his lines twice, firing off target via his shin with the goal at his mercy from Kulusevski's third-minute cross before Thomas Kaminski denied the Brazilian with his feet following James Maddison's slick through ball 60 seconds later.
When Bissouma was rightly sent off on the stroke of half-time, it looked like everything was conspiring against Tottenham. But, as previously seen on several occasions this season, Postecoglou's players dug out a result.
Speaking later in his press conference, the Australian added: "I've said from day one, I like winning. I love it. I get the team to play the way I want and try to create an environment that breeds success.
"I've gone into this with an open mind, and the results have been there so far, but it doesn't change where I think we are in terms of our growth. I don't get driven by the results at this early stage. Everyone we recruited in the summer has had a big impact which has helped, but we have to keep getting that right."
Luton had the ball in the net after 39 minutes but it was immediately ruled out and a VAR check showed Elijah Adebayo had shoved Cristian Romero.
Luton boss Rob Edwards said: "I've been told it [Tom Lockyer's disallowed goal] was the correct decision but not by my staff, but they didn't come raging into the dressing room to tell me it should have stood. It was ridiculous that due to two injuries we were then down to nine men for a short period."
The hosts should have taken the lead two minutes after half-time when Chiedozie Ogbene held off Destiny Udogie and crossed in for Adebayo, but he could not steer his effort on target.
"I feel like we've left points out there today," Edwards added. "We didn't come out the traps the first 10-12 minutes but after that we started to execute what we wanted to do and we were in the game.
"The dynamic changed because of the sending-off and it was an opportunity for us to be more aggressive. We predicted their change, so we changed our shape to go to a back three and we had a huge opportunity, a massive chance, which we didn't take, and we've been punished for.
"We huffed and puffed and had a couple of other big moments which we didn't take. They're an elite team, which means that even when they're down to 10 men it's hard. They were well organised, but we're competing in every game.
"We were well beaten against Brighton and Chelsea earlier in the season, but since then we've shown a lot of good qualities, we've put teams under pressure but we've not collected enough points to show from it. We need to learn quickly and ensure our mentality is right at every single moment."
Tottenham return to action after the international break with a Premier League match against Fulham at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Monday October 23, live on Sky Sports Premier League from 7pm; kick-off 8pm.
Luton are facing a league trip to Nottingham Forest on Saturday October 21; kick-off 3pm.
