Spurs comfortable in 3-1 win over lowly Forest

Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Kane, 19, 35 (pen), Son, 62)

Nottingham Forest 1 (Worrall, 81)

Att: 61,460

Spurs brought some cheer back to this part of north London with a comfortable 3-1 win over a poor Nottingham Forest side at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this afternoon.

Two goals - one a penalty - from Harry Kane, his 19th and 20th Premier League strikes this term, and one from Heung-Min Son, put Spurs 3-0 up.

And a header from Joe Worrall with 10 minutes to go proved to be merely a consolation, as Andre Ayew then saw a penalty saved by Fraser Forster in stoppage time.

The win has given Tottenham a six-point cushion in the race for fourth place following Liverpool’s defeat at Bournemouth this lunchtime. They have, however, played more games than the teams below them.

Richarlison, who some thought may have been left out after his midweek outburst, looked to have given Spurs the lead after just three minutes.

A long ball over the Forest back line was pounced on by the Brazilian, who hammered home what would have been his first Premier League goal, however the strike was ruled out for offside after a lengthy VAR check.

Cristian Romero should have given the home side the lead on 14 minutes, his header from Heung-Min Son’s right-sided corner headed high over the goal when Romero was in an ideal position.

But Spurs did take the lead after 19 minutes through Kane. Good work from Richarlison down the right had the Forest defence backpedalling, and when the ball arrived back on that side at the feet of Pedro Porro, his fine cross was headed home by the Spurs skipper.

And it was 2-0 on 35 minutes thanks to Kane’s penalty, which came about due to Forest skipper Worrall’s clumsy challenge on Richarlison, who was heading away from goal.

Kane’s penalty was high into the net and gave the edgy Spurs fans some breathing space.

In truth Forest were poor all afternoon, producing nothing of note to trouble the home side in the first period – and little more in the second.

Steve Cooper replaced the ineffectual Jesse Lingard with Emmanuel Dennis at half-time, also introducing former Crystal Palace striker Andre Ayew for Orel Mangala.

Ayew’s hooked effort over the top of the Spurs bar on the hour was the closest an abject Forest had come to scoring up to that point.

But they were starting to cause the home side just the slightest of problems, Brennan Johnson forcing the first save from Fraser Forster.

But just as they were beginning to get back into it, Spurs made the game safe. Richarlison’s cross found Son, who controlled the ball with his body, worked the ball on to his left foot and planted a shot past Keylor Navas in the Forest goal.

Forster then produced a wonderful acrobatic save from former Spurs man Serge Aurier’s header, while Richarlison, who was impressive all afternoon, just failed to connect with a cross from the left which could have made it four.

Son then should have nabbed his second, but hit his shot too close to Navas in the Forest goal.

Forest pulled one back on 81 minutes when Worrall headed home a flick on from a corner, and they had the chance to further reduce the deficit in injury time, but Forster saved from Ayew's spot-kick.

Overall, Spurs were more than comfortable, and will be hopeful of taking their place at Europe’s top table again next season.

Teams:

Spurs: Forster, Skipp, Hojbjerg, Son (Moura, 84), Richarlison (Kulusevski, 84), Kane, Dier, Romero, Porro, Davies, Lenglet

Forest: Navas, Worrall, Mangala (Ayew, h/t), Shelvey, Gibbs-White, Lingard (Dennis, h/t), Johnson (Wood, 67, Williams, 73), Freuler (Yates, 67), Aurier, Lodi, Felipe

Referee: Craig Pawson