Tottenham player ratings vs Bournemouth - Lo Celso and Emerson shine but Sarr and Veliz injured
Tottenham end their year with a 3-1 victory against Bournemouth in the Premier League on New Year's Eve.
Ange Postecoglou, his players and the Spurs fans received a surprise boost this week with the return of Rodrigo Bentancur to training more than a month before he was originally expected to be back from his ankle injury suffered in November. The Uruguayan was straight back into the starting line-up to take on the in-form Cherries, who came into the game with seven wins from their previous nine matches in the Premier League.
It was Tottenham who opened the scoring nine minutes in. Good work from Bentancur and Giovani Lo Celso got possession back and keep it from Bournemouth before Pape Matar Sarr drove on and buried a clinical low shot inside the left-hand post.
Spurs lost Sarr to injury though midway through the first half with the young Senegal international needing to be consoled by both Bentancur and captain Son Heung-min, presumably with the injury throwing his Africa Cup of Nations hopes into doubt.
Bournemouth looked to be the more likely to find the next goal but they failed to test Guglielmo Vicario and were punished when Lo Celso put Son through with a lovely pass with the outside of his left foot and the Tottenham skipper struck a shot across Neto and into the far corner.
Spurs then found a third with almost a carbon copy of the goal they scored against Everton as Emerson Royal played the ball over the top to Brennan Johnson and he hit it first time on the run into the path of Richarlison who touched it home confidently.
Bournemouth hit a goal back when Alex Scott struck a low effort into the far corner after a sweeping move by the Cherries.
Here are our Spurs player ratings:
Lo Celso's mischievous moment,
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