Published: 15 September, 2013

by DAN CARRIER

Premier League

SPURS 2, NORWICH CITY

A GYLFI SIGURDSSON double saw Spurs run out comfortable 2-0 winners at White Hart Lane – and coach Andre Villas-Boas (pictured) praised his Icelandic international, whose place in the side is far from secure after a raft of summer signings.

“I'm so pleased for Gylfi,” he said.

“He came back from international duty with a dead leg and was struggling, but I told him we needed him today.

“He made himself available and, as always, he made the very most of the opportunity to play. He turned in a great performance.”

AVB gave a debut to Dane Christian Eriksen and the attacker looked like he had been playing alongside his team-mates for years.

“He came into the game so easily,” said Villas-Boas.

“It was a great debut for Christian, especially for a player of his age. He showed fantastic movement and showed a perfect performance in the number 10 role.”

The opening 25 minutes saw Roberto Soldado hit a post with a backheel, Andros Townsend drive an effort narrowly wide and Eriksen force Norwich keeper John Ruddy into a sprawling stop.

The first goal came midway through the opening period when a well-worked move saw the ball go wide left to Rose, come inside for Soldado, and then a clever ball from Eriksen gave Sigurdsson the space he needed to finish clinically.

On 49, Spurs doubled their lead when Eriksen found Paulinho in space and his slide-rule cross was tapped home by Sigurdsson.

From then on Spurs were in cruise control and it took a mixture of luck and Ruddy's excellent positional sense to stop the scoreline becoming a rout.

As the game ticked down. AVB gave record signing Erik Lamela a run-out: with Andros Townsend continuing to be on form, and Sigurdsson hitting a double, the Argentine's polished and skilfull performance now gives the coach some serious selection headaches. It is a problem AVB will relish solving.

“We have such strength in depth and it means the players all know they have to compete,” said AVB.

“They know if they do not perform others can come in.

“Last March, we struggled with injuries and we did not have the depth to get through that. Now, for example, we have lost Capoue but we have Sandro ready to step in. Each player knows there is healthy competition for every position.”

SPURS COMMENT by Dan Carrier

IT felt very much like the season started in this game: the players have had a little more time on the training ground together, and you could tell by the slick inter-passing, the movement off the ball and the solid positioning that AVB has been working them hard.

For the last two years, Norwich have caused Spurs serious problems at the Lane, taking four points away with them. They've defended deep and Tottenham have found it hard to break them down: they tried to same trick again but Spurs simply had too much for it to work.

The debut of Danish schemer Christian Eriksen was as good a start as I've seen. He dictated the play and gave the side an added inventiveness that meant Norwich's backs-to-wall, park-the-bus tactics were undermined by his vision and touch. It was a great way to start your Spurs career.