Tottenham Hotspur demolished Norwich City 5-0 to seal a top-four spot, pipping arch-rivals Arsenal.
Tottenham Hotspur came into the Norwich City encounter fully aware that they only needed to avoid a defeat to book themselves a place in next season’s Champions League. Antonio Conte’s men not just escaped without a loss but went on to register a thumping win to finish the season in style.
Spurs scored five past a relegated Norwich, who finished as the bottom-placed side in the English top-flight. Dejan Kulusevski opened the scoring in the 16th minute before Harry Kane doubled the advantage as the north London side went into half-time with a two-goal cushion.
Kulusevski then added another to his goal tally 19 minutes after the restart before a quickfire brace from Son Heung-min sealed the deal for Conte’s side. The South Korean attacker’s two goals briefly took him ahead of Mohamed Salah on the Golden Boot standings but eventually, the duo finished with 23 goals each and shared the accolade.
Norwich, meanwhile, were left licking their wounds and all their attention will now shift to regaining promotion to the Premier League. They had the opportunity to avoid the wooden spoon as Watford were defeated in their last encounter of the season, but the Canaries couldn’t get ahead of the game as Tottenham steamrolled them.
On that note, here’s looking at how each Tottenham player fared in their final Premier League match of the season.
Hugo Lloris: 6/10
The Tottenham captain had absolutely nothing to do all game as all of Norwich’s shots were off target. A well-deserved quiet game for the Frenchman to end the season.
Davinson Sanchez: 7/10
Sanchez has done brilliantly filling in for Cristian Romero on the right of a three-man defence. He was solid against Norwich, making two interceptions and a tackle. He was strong in the air, winning three aerial duels.
Eric Dier: 7/10
The England international was quick to clear any danger for his side. And except for a loose pass in the first half which could have proved costly, Dier did well to hold on to the clean sheet. He made three clearances, an interception and a tackle.
Ben Davies: 7/10
Davies put his body on the line to ensure Tottenham escape unscathed from the encounter and secure a top-four spot. He made three clearances, blocked a shot and made an interception. To add on to his gritty defending, Davies was solid in the air, winning four aerial duels out of six contested.
Emerson Royal: 7/10
Emerson was much more involved in the defensive side of things. He won four of the six ground duels that he contested, made a clearance, an interception and two tackles. He was taken off for Bergwijn in the 73rd minute.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg: 8/10
A dominating performance in the middle of the park, Hojbjerg was one of the best players on show, winning most of the midfield battles and showing pinpoint accuracy with his passing. He played three key passes and had a 96% pass accuracy. Seven of his eight long balls found a teammate and he won six ground duels as well.
Rodrigo Bentancur: 9/10
Bentancur assisted both of Spurs’ first-half goals. He first squared the ball to Kulusevski to slot in an open net to give Tottenham the lead before capitalising on a bit of poor passing from Tim Krul to set up Kane for the second of the match.
Ryan Sessegnon: 7/10
Like his wing-back counterpart Emerson, Sessegnon too wasn’t heavily involved in the team’s attacks and focused a bit more on defending. He was full of running, however, and played two key passes as well. He also blocked a shot to cap off a decent outing.
Dejan Kulusevski: 9/10
Kulusevski has been a revelation since joining Spurs from Juventus in the January window. He scored once in each half to take his season tally to five goals, on top of three assists. The 22-year-old’s second goal was a fine curling strike right into the top corner. He was enterprising with his dribbling as well, winning five of six attempts.
Son Heung-min: 8/10
Son won the Premier League Golden Boot, taking his season tally to 23 goals with a five-minute brace. He missed a host of chances but more than made up for it eventually. On another day, he would have beaten Salah for the league’s top-scorer accolade but had to share it with the Egyptian.
Harry Kane: 8/10
Kane was his usual creative self and also headed home Spurs’ second goal. He got the assist for Kulusevski’s second and played three key passes in total while creating one big opportunity. He forced Krul into two saves as well.
Substitutes
Lucas Moura: 7/10
Lucas came on for Kulusevski in the 68th minute and assisted Son for his first goal just two minutes later. He played two key passes and created two big chances.
Steven Bergwijn: 6/10
Bergwijn came on for Emerson in the 73rd minute and played one key pass. There wasn’t much else to do for him as Spurs were already four goals up when he came on.
Harry Winks: 6/10
Winks came on for Bentancur in the 73rd minute and completed all 11 of his attempted passes to close off the game safely.
