Published: 9 December, 2013
by DAN CARRIER

Premier League
SUNDERLAND 1, SPURS 2

WORLD Cup hopeful Jermain Defoe has been praised by his manager Andre Villas-Boas for his patience this season in getting himself into the Tottenham first team.

The forward has found his Premiership chances limited after the arrival of £17m signing Roberto Soldado, but with Soldado firing blanks this autumn, Defoe has now played two Premiership games on the spin and was unlucky not to hit a hat-trick against Sunderland in a 2-1 away victory.

Villas-Boas, commenting on speculation that Defoe could leave for a Canadian club, said: “I am extremely happy with Defoe. He is a wonderful professional and a great goalscorer for the club. People can link him to other clubs, we can't stop that. It doesn't mean that we're going to accept any offer. He is committed to being within the group.”

Spurs went a goal down on 37 minutes after a ghastly error by keeper Hugo Lloris. He palmed a cross to Adam Johnson, allowing the home side an easy opener.

But Spurs hit back almost immmediately when Brazilian midfielder Paulinho stabbed home from close range.

The second half saw Spurs launch a siege on Sunderland's goal with Defoe striking a post twice and narrowly shooting wide. They had other chances, too, yet it was an own goal by Sunderland defender John O'Shea that gave Spurs the winner. Mousa Demebele had hit a cross into the six-yard box on 50 and O'Shea got into a tangle that eventually saw the ball sneak home.

SPURS COMMENT by Dan Carrier

POOR old Bobby Soldado: it's not like he personally has done anything wrong – the system he was playing in was clearly bust. AVB has got a fit-again Aaron Lennon bringing strength, speed and experience to the right flank while Chadli has seemingly found his feet in the Premiership too. This has coincided with Jermain Defoe being given a little run in the side and now the place is his to lose. While he didn't score, he hit the woodwork twice and nipped another effort inches wide that with a little less ring-rustiness about him he would have finished. Other plus points for AVB is the use of Etienne Capoue as a centre-back. He slotted in alongside Michael Dawson and had touches of Franz Beckenbauer about him.

SPURS: Lloris, Dawson, Capoue, Naughton, Walker, Dembele (Sandro, 73), Paulinho, Holtby (Townsend, 79), Lennon, Chadli (Sigurdsson, 84), Defoe.