Tim Sherwood's future at the Tottenham helm may be less than certain,
but his side's comprehensive 5-1 defeat of Sunderland means the fate of
Gus Poyet's side is becoming increasingly clear.
The prematch build-up
was dominated by a report earlier in the day that Sherwood would be
replaced as Spurs boss this summer, regardless of how results went
between now and the end of the campaign.
By that reckoning,
this impressive comeback win will have little impact on his future,
although the same cannot be said for Sunderland, who may have two games
in hand on many of their rivals but languish bottom of the table and
seven points adrift of safety.
Before the match Sherwood
insisted it was "business as usual" at Spurs and that his players should
not be affected by the speculation, although their minds certainly
appeared elsewhere as they gifted Sunderland the opener.
Collecting
a poor return ball from goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, Vlad Chiriches -- on
his first appearance since January 29 -- played a terrible square ball
straight into the path of Lee Cattermole, who impressively slotted home
his first Sunderland goal to the ire of the home support.
Wes
Brown had headed just wide before that, but it was Spurs who had
dominated the play and duly drew level when Emmanuel Adebayor snuck in
at the back post to bundle home a Christian Eriksen cross.
Tottenham
continued to knock on the door as half-time approached and Sherwood was
incensed that referee Lee Mason, who earlier missed a Santiago Vergini
handball, waved away appeals for a penalty after Harry Kane was upended
by Carlos Cuellar.
The home fans would not be frustrated
for long, though, as Kane prodded home his first Premier League goal to
give Spurs a deserved lead.
Eriksen provided that assist
and got a goal of his own with 12 minutes remaining, before Adebayor
tucked home his second and substitute Gylfi Sigurdsson struck home in
stoppage time to put a smile on Sherwood's face at the end of a tough
day.
The match began with a warm embrace between Sherwood
and former Tottenham team-mate Poyet, whose side had managed just one
point from their last six matches.
That lack of form showed
in the early stages as Spurs began brightly, with Vito Mannone having
to backtrack to tip over a deflected Eriksen cross. However, for all of
the hosts' good play, Sunderland came close after 14 minutes when a
powerful Brown header went just wide of the far post.
It
was poor defending from Spurs and it got worse just three minutes later
as they farcically gifted Sunderland the lead. Chiriches collected a
poor return pass from Lloris and continued to play the ball into
no-man's land, where Cattermole capitalised by showing excellent
composure to slot home from 25 yards.
It was a sucker punch
that Tottenham attempted to cancel out immediately, with Kane wasting a
chance at an immediate leveller. Kyle Naughton flashed a long-range
effort into the side-netting as Spurs upped the ante, before Adebayor
scooped over after a Kane attempt was blocked by Vergini's hand.
No
penalty was awarded but Tottenham soon managed to eke out a leveller
thanks to their returning top scorer, with Eriksen's fine ball bundled
home at the back post by Adebayor.
It was no less than the
home side deserved and they tried to add to another before half-time,
with Kane hitting a low strike at Mannone before Danny Rose curled an
audacious strike just wide.
Adam Johnson had an early
half-chance when play resumed for the second half and Sherwood was
incensed when Kane wriggled free in the box before being taken down by
Cuellar.
The Spurs boss' touchline antics were being
matched by counterpart Poyet, who had Phil Bardsley to thank for a
last-ditch tackle that stopped Eriksen slotting home a fizzing Aaron
Lennon cross.
The home side were getting a lot of joy down
the flanks and it bore fruit in the 58th minute. Eriksen was again the
provider as he whipped in a fine ball for Kane to prod home his first
Premier League goal - followed-up soon after by a collision that
required a bandage to his head.
However, he returned to the
field unrattled by the collision and Spurs continued to press, with
Naughton and Lennon having efforts blocked. Substitute Ignacio Scocco
hit the side-netting on a rare Sunderland voyage of forwards, before
Eriksen put the game out of reach with a strike that took a slight
deflection off Bardsley on its way in.
Adebayor added a
fourth after Kane's initial strike squirmed through Mannone's grasp,
with the Sunderland goalkeeper beaten again in stoppage time by
substitute Sigurdsson.
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