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Even if it was against the most accommodating opposition imaginable, if this is how Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham Hotspur will play, they could be a very good side. As a statement of intent, and a promise for the future, yesterday could not have gone much better for Spurs’ new head coach.
This was Pochettino’s third game in charge of Tottenham but his first at home, and the White Hart Lane crowd was treated to a performance of very watchable attacking football, against a side without the capacity or obvious desire to stop them. Spurs played with real hunger and power and would surely have beaten far better teams than Harry Redknapp’s bedraggled Queen’s Park Rangers.
Pochettino is trying to instil his philosophy and style in the Tottenham squad and on this evidence they are learning quickly. They played as Pochettino’s Southampton did: pressing high up the pitch and counter-attacking quickly and ruthlessly. Tottenham’s pre-season was intense, full of double sessions, as Pochettino and his staff tried to make the squad fit enough to play his football. It was the physical, rather than technical, edge they had over Rangers that stood out most.
Christian Eriksen takes a free-kick against QPR (GETTY IMAGES)
This felt like a different Spurs team from last season, even though it contained just one summer signing in right-back Eric Dier. No player was more obviously changed than Erik Lamela, the outstanding performer, who set up two goals and took the game to QPR throughout. Last season, hampered by injuries, Lamela looked slightly lost in the pace of the English game but now he was far quicker, stronger and sharper.
He set the tone for the whole afternoon when, in the first minute, he stole the ball from Armand Traore, exchanged passes with Emmanuel Adebayor and had a shot deflected wide. That might have surprised some Spurs fans but 10 minutes later he did it again, this time robbing Richard Dunne and starting a move which ended with Adebayor heading Nabil Bentaleb’s cross just wide.
Harry Redknapp, the QPR manager, is greeted by Mauricio Pochettino prior to the game at White Hart Lane (GETTY IMAGES)
The intent was clear and Rangers did not look strong enough to cope. Two minutes later, Spurs were ahead. Nacer Chadli and Bentaleb combined to win the ball in the centre circle; Bentaleb passed to Adebayor, who took the ball forward, while Bentaleb, Chadli and Lamela sprinted into the box. Adebayor floated a cross to the far post, where Chadli met it, controlled it, and lifted it into the net.
It was not just the attacking players who were taking responsibility. Soon after the goal, Jan Vertonghen won a tackle, stormed forward and angled a perfect pass to Adebayor, whose shot was weak and straight at Rob Green.
Tottenham - the latest match in picturesShow all 121 1 /121Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Southampton 2 Tottenham 2 Tottenham left-back Ben Davies is carried off with a suspected dislocated shoulder
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Southampton 2 Tottenham 2 Nacer Chadli calmly slots the ball into the net to make it 2-2
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Southampton 2 Tottenham 2 Southampton players celebrate after Graziano Pelle scores his second
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Southampton 2 Tottenham 2 Pelle jumps highest to head in his and Saints' second
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Southampton 2 Tottenham 2 Erik Lamela celebrates getting Spurs level
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Southampton 2 Tottenham 2 Pelle pokes the ball beyond Hugo Lloris to open the scoring
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 3 Swansea 2 Andros Townsend celebrates scoring Spurs' third
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 3 Swansea 2 Bafetimbi Gomis of Swansea City is stretchered off at White Hart Lane
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Fiorentina 2 Tottenham 0 Mohamed Salah makes it 2-0 to the Italian side
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Fiorentina 2 Tottenham 0 Mario Gomez celebrates after scoring Fiorentina's first
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Fiorentina 2 Tottenham 0 Roberto Soldado wasted a glorious chance for Spurs
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Liverpool 3 Tottenham 2 Mario Balotelli scores his first Premier League goal for Tottenham
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Liverpool 3 Tottenham 2 Steven Gerrard scores from the spot
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham Hotspur 2 Sunderland 1 Jan Vertonghen got Spurs off to the perfect start with an early goal that deflected in
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham Hotspur 2 Sunderland 1 Jermain Defoe made his Sunderland debut at his former club
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham Hotspur 2 Sunderland 1 Sebastian Larsson equalised with a stunning free-kick for Sunderland
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham Hotspur 2 Sunderland 1 Gus Poyet and Mauricio Pochettino watch their teams in action
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham Hotspur 2 Sunderland 1 Emmanuel Adebayor came on for his first game since 9 November
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham Hotspur 2 Sunderland 1 Christian Eriksen scores a late winner for the home side
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 5 Chelsea 3 Diego Costa got Chelsea off to a great start when he opened the scoring after 18 minutes
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 5 Chelsea 3 However, Harry Kane scored an equaliser
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 5 Chelsea 3 With Danny Rose and then Andros Townsend from the penalty spot scoring before half-time to put Spurs in control
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 5 Chelsea 3 Townsend scores on half-time, before Kane scored Tottenham's fourth after the break
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 5 Chelsea 3 Eden Hazard got one back for Chelsea before Chadli hit the fifth for Spurs
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 5 Chelsea 3 John Terry scored a late consolation
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 0 Manchester United 0 Neither Manchester United or Tottenham could break the deadlock
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 0 Manchester United 0 Hugo Lloris was in inspired form, denying a host of chances for Manchester United in the first half
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 0 Manchester United 0 Spurs threatened to steal all three points late in the game but it ended goalless at White Hart Lane
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Leicester 1 Tottenham 2 Harry Kane scored his 15th goal of the season inside a minute
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Leicester 1 Tottenham 2 Kane silences the crowd at the King Power Stadium
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Leicester 1 Tottenham 2 Danny Rose battles with Danny Simpson on Tottenham's left wing
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Leicester 1 Tottenham 2 Leonardo Ulloa heads Leicester level early in the second-half
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Leicester 1 Tottenham 2 Ulloa salutes the crowd after his equalising goal
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Leicester 1 Tottenham 2 Spurs played mob Eriksen after his brilliant free-kick handed them all three points
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 2 Burnley 0 Spurs striker Harry Kane poked the home side into an early lead
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 2 Burnley 0 Ashley Barnes curled a wicked shot beyond Hugo Lloris to equalise
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 2 Burnley 0 Barnes celebrates with Burnley team-mates
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 2 Burnley 0 Erik Lamela scored the decisive goal with a fantastic strike from outside the area
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 2 Burnley 0 The goal was Lamela's first in the Premier League since joining last summer
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 2 Burnley 0 Danny Ings reacts after missing a good chance in the second-half
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 4 Newcastle 0 Spurs' striker Harry Kane scores their third goal
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 4 Newcastle 0 Newcastle United's Jak Alnwick punches the ball clear
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 4 Newcastle 0 Nabil Bentaleb (centre) celebrates putting Tottenham ahead
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Besiktas 1 Tottenham 0 Besiktas players celebrate at the final whistle
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Besiktas 1 Tottenham 0 Besiktas forward Cenk Tosun scores the winning goal in the 1-0 victory over Spurs
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Besiktas 1 Tottenham 0 The Olympic Stadium during the floodlight fail
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Besiktas 1 Tottenham 0 Slaven Bilic, the Besiktas coach, watches on from the sidelines
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Besiktas 1 Tottenham 0 Tottenham striker Roberto Soldado (left) is denied by the Besiktas keeper Tolga Zengin last night
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 0 Crystal Palace 0 Christian Eriksen cracks off an effort at goal despite the attentions of the Palace defence
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 0 Crystal Palace 0 Nabil Bentaleb competes with Martin Kelly for a high ball
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 0 Crystal Palace 0 Players from both teams line-up before kick-off to remember the Christmas tribute from the First World War 100 years ago
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Chelsea 3 Tottenham 0 Loic Remy celebrates scoring Chelsea's third goal
Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Chelsea 3 Tottenham 0 Didier Drogba made it 2-0 to Chelsea
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Chelsea 3 Tottenham 0 Eden Hazard scores Chelsea's first
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 2 Everton 1 Christian Eriksen celebrates his goal
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 2 Everton 1 Roberto Soldado scores his first league goal of the season
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 1 Partizan Belgrade 0 Benjamin Stambouli celebrates his goal for Tottenham last night
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 1 Partizan Belgrade 0 A second pitch invader is stopped by a steward
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 1 Partizan Belgrade 0 A third pitch invader is hauled to the floor and removed from the pitch by stewards
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 1 Partizan Belgrade 0 A pitch invader is led away by stewards
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 1 Stoke 2 Kyle Naughton receives his red card
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 1 Stoke 2 Nacer Chadli celebrates his goal for Spurs
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 1 Stoke 2 Jon Walters scores Stoke's second
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 1 Stoke 2 Bojan Krkic (right) fires his shot past the lunge of Tottenham Hotspur's Danny Rose to score the opening goal
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 1 Stoke 2 The players observe a moment of silence in a mark of respect to fallen soldiers since World War I on Remembrance Day
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Asteras Tripolis 1 Tottenham 2 Andros Townsend celebrates with Harry Kane - the two Tottenham goal scorers in this Europa League tie
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Aston Villa 1 Tottenham 2 Andreas Weimann celebrates after ending Villa's long wait for a goal to put the home side in front
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Aston Villa 1 Tottenham 2 Nacer Chadli pulls Tottenham level in the 84 minute
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Aston Villa 1 Tottenham 2 Harry Kane celebrates scoring Spurs' winning goal with Andros Townsend
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 2 Brighton 0 Harry Kane celebrates scoring Spurs' second goal with Andros Townsend
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 2 Brighton 0 Referee Mark Clattenburg gives Brighton's Inigo Calderon a talking to
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 2 Brighton 0 Erik Lamela gives Tottenham the lead
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 1 Newcastle 2 Ayoze Perez and his teammates celebrate with the away fans
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 1 Newcastle 2 Ayoze Perez scores for Newcastle to complete the turnaround
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 1 Newcastle 2 Sammy Ameobi scores with his first touch to level for Newcastle
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 1 Newcastle 2 Emmanuel Adebayor heads in the opening goal for Spurs
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Manchester City 4 Tottenham 1 Sergio Aguero completes his hat-trick from the penalty spot to put City 3-1 up
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Manchester City 4 Tottenham 1 Roberto Soldado reflects on his penalty miss
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Manchester City 4 Tottenham 1 Sergio Aguero sees City's second penalty of the game saved and then hits the rebound over
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Manchester City 4 Tottenham 1 David Silva is fouled to give City their second penalty
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Manchester City 4 Tottenham 1 Sergio Aguero gets his second of the afternoon from the penalty spot
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Manchester City 4 Tottenham 1 Frank Lampard is fouled by Erik Lamela to give City a penalty
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Manchester City 4 Tottenham 1 Christian Eriksen celebrates his equaliser for Spurs
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Manchester City 4 Tottenham 1 Christian Eriksen equalises for Spurs
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Manchester City 4 Tottenham 1 Sergio Aguero celebrates his opening goal
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Manchester City 4 Tottenham 1 Sergio Aguero fires City into the lead
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 1 Southampton 0 Christian Eriksen celebrates his winning goal
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures eriksen-2.jpg Christian Eriksen fires in to give Spurs the lead
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 1 Besiktas 1 Demba Ba broke English hearts again with a late penalty to share the spoils.
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 1 Besiktas 1 Andros Townsend continued his recovery from injury in the Europa League.
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 1 Besiktas 1 Harry Kane, fast becoming an important player for Spurs, put his side ahead after 27 minutes.
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 1 Besiktas 1 The Turkish supporters were in fine voice throughout the ninety minutes.
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 1 Besiktas 1 Slaven Bilic returned to London to take on Tottenham at White Hart Lane.
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Arsenal 1 Tottenham 1 All 10 of Oxlade-Chamberlain's Arsenal goals have come at the Emirates
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Arsenal 1 Tottenham 1 Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain fired in Arsenal's equaliser from close range
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Arsenal 1 Tottenham 1 Nacer Chadli (second right) fired Spurs into the lead after Mathieu Flamini gave away the ball in midfield
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Arsenal 1 Tottenham 1 Worryingly for the Gunners Aaron Ramsey was taken off after hurting his hamstring in the first half
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Arsenal 1 Tottenham 1 Danny Rose and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain battle for the ball in a tense, nervy north London derby at the Emirates
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Arsenal 1 Tottenham 1 Ryan Mason (right) made his Premier League debut for Spurs in the match
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 3 Nottingham Forest 1 Ryan Mason scores Tottenham’s equaliser against Nottingham Forest in this Capital One Cup tie
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 0 West Brom 1 West Brom players celebrate James Morrison's goal
Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 0 West Brom 1 James Morrison scores for West Brom against Tottenham
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Partizan 0 Tottenham 0 Tottenham Hotspur's Roberto Soldado, center, receives the ball while being guarded by Partizan Belgrade's Miroslav Vulicevic
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Partizan 0 Tottenham 0 Tottenham Hotspur's Nabil Bentaleb (center) and Partizan Belgrade's Petar Grbic challenge for the ball
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Partizan 0 Tottenham 0 Harry Kane holds off the challenge of Danilo Pantic
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Sunderland 2 Tottenham 2 Tottenham can't believe it after Harry Kane's own goal gifts Sunderland a point.
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Sunderland 2 Tottenham 2 Gus Poyet's men have impressed this season but, before the match against Spurs, were yet to get three points.
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Sunderland 2 Tottenham 2 Adam Johnson drags the Black Cats back into the game with a well taken drive.
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Sunderland 2 Tottenham 2 Nacer Chadli puts Spurs ahead after just two minutes at the Stadium of Light. This strike was his third of the season.
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 4 QPR 0 Harry Redknapp, the QPR manager, is greeted by Mauricio Pochettino prior to the game at White Hart Lane
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 4 QPR 0 Nacer Chadli celebrates after opening the scoring against QPR
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 4 QPR 0 Tottenham defender Eric Dier (C) celebrates scoring the second goal against QPR with Argentinian midfielder Erik Lamela
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 4 QPR 0 Christian Eriksen takes a free-kick against QPR - hitting the crossbar
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 4 QPR 0 Nacer Chadli of Spurs heads past Robert Green of QPR to score his team's third goal
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures Tottenham 4 QPR 0 Togolese striker Emmanuel Adebayor (L) scores Tottenham's fourth goal against QPR
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures West Ham 0 Tottenham 1 Tottenham players and fans celebrate Eric Dier's late winning goal on his debut to sink West Ham
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures West Ham 0 Tottenham 1 James Collins is shown a red card after picking up a second booking to level the teams at 10-men-a-piece
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures West Ham 0 Tottenham 1 Sam Allardyce watches on as Mauricio Pochettino gestures following the sending off of Kyle Naughton
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures West Ham 0 Tottenham 1 Mark Noble sends his penalty attempt wide of the left post as Hugo Lloris dives the wrong way
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures West Ham 0 Tottenham 1 Kyle Naughton walks off the pitch in disappointment after being sent-off for a deliberate handball
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Tottenham - the latest match in pictures West Ham 0 Tottenham 1 Kyle Naughton is shown a straight red card for a deliberate hand ball
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Christian Eriksen hit a 30-yard free-kick against the underside of the bar and, though Spurs went through a brief dip in the middle of the first half, they ended it with two goals to kill the game.
Dier headed in his second Tottenham goal, charging away from Leroy Fer at the near post to meet Lamela’s inswinging corner, showing more power and desire than most of the QPR defence could summon all afternoon.
Any doubt over the result was eliminated seven minutes later. Lamela picked up the ball in the middle, spun away from Dunne and darted past Mauricio Isla. He clipped a cross to the far post and there was Chadli again, scoring his second with a simple header.
Nacer Chadli of Spurs heads past Robert Green of QPR to score his team's third goal (GETTY IMAGES) Redknapp’s 3-5-2 system simply had not worked and Rangers came out for the second half in a more conventional 4-5-1, replacing Dunne with Nedum Onuoha. It helped to slow Tottenham down, although they did not approach the second half with anything like their early intensity anyway, for the simple reason that they had already won the game.
Eriksen went close twice and, 20 minutes after the restart, Spurs did score their fourth. Danny Rose passed forward to Chadli and sprinted beyond him, demanding the return pass. Chadli found him, Rose raced into the space and crossed low to Adebayor, for whom it was a simple finish.
Tottenham defender Eric Dier (C) celebrates scoring the second goal against QPR with Argentinian midfielder Erik Lamela (GETTY IMAGES) That was the end of Tottenham’s attacking, with Bentaleb, Chadli and Adebayor all replaced to standing ovations in the second half.
Rangers started to grow into a game which they had already lost, and when Bobby Zamora came on for Matt Phillips with 16 minutes remaining they did at least finally have a presence up front. Zamora had one deflected shot saved by Hugo Lloris and then, with two minutes left, he was free at the far post but skied his shot over the bar.
Togolese striker Emmanuel Adebayor (L) scores Tottenham's fourth goal against QPR (GETTY IMAGES) By the end, the Spurs fans were affectionately mocking their former manager Redknapp, who cannot have taken any pleasure from the afternoon at all. His team were bad in all departments of the game and, good as Tottenham were, Rangers could hardly have made it any easier for them. Their three-man defence was torn to pieces, the wing-backs barely got forward, the midfield never got into the game and the front line carried no threat.
They had one good chance when it mattered, when they were still just 1-0 down. Joey Barton played a perfect long ball to Phillips, who took it down brilliantly, skipped away from Younes Kaboul but tried to chip Lloris, from close range, and lifted his effort far over the bar. In a game like this, Phillips needed to score – although Tottenham would still have won if he had.
Teams...
Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris, Dier, Kaboul, Vertonghen, Rose, Capoue, Bentaleb, Lamela, Eriksen, Chadli, Adebayor.
Subs: Lennon, Soldado, Holtby, Kane, Dembele, Friedel, Davies.
QPR: Green, Dunne, Ferdinand, Caulker, Phillips, Isla, Barton, Fer, Traore, Mutch, Remy.
Subs: Simpson, Wright-Phillips, Onuoha, Faurlin, Murphy, Hoilett, Zamora.
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