A double for a reborn Emmanuel Adebayor gave Tim Sherwood his fifth win as Tottenham manager, while Swansea continue to falter as their injury list grows.
The match proved to show the opposite direction both clubs are headed in, as Sherwood will be flying high in fifth position, while Michael Laudrup has plenty of work to do just to salvage a top-10 position.
The game began with not only a wide-open feel but also a chippy one, with a number of crunching challenges early on. Swansea began as the brighter side, holding much of the possession in the first five minutes and testing Lloris during that time.
Despite their positive start, the home side were also very sloppy in possession, with a number of cheap giveaways leading to half-chances for Tottenham.
Moussa Dembele and Spurs looked to capitalize on these mistakes, and it helped them build into the match. By the 20th minute it seemed Spurs was well and truly on top.
But the Swans continued to test Lloris’s net, and Wilfried Bony put by far the best test on target as he rattled the crossbar with a stinging cutback and shot from the top of the penalty area.
The Spurs counter would finally prove too much for the home side, as Spurs would go in front in the 35th minute through the revitalized Adebayor.
As the visitors cut a counter down the right flank, Christian Eriksen played a lovely chip for Aaron Lennon, and the English winger cut it back for Eriksen on the top corner of the box. Again a brilliant ball from Eriksen, this time slicing through the box and finding Adebayor’s head, and the striker buried the shot on the bounce.
Out of the halftime break, an injury worry for Swansea made a comeback an even more difficult thought as Jonjo Shelvey went down with what appeared to be a hamstring injury, unable to continue just six minutes in.
He was replaced by Roland Lamah, and things would unravel from that point. As Spurs threw forward another incisive counter, the visitors started their buildup on the left before switching sides. Kyle Walker blasted in a close-range cross in the 53rd minute, and it rocketed off Chico Flores and into the net for an own goal.
The lead looked insurmountable for Swansea, and that it would prove to be, as the home side fell to their seventh match in a row without a win. Michael Laudrup may be thinking now about avoiding relegation rather than finishing in the top 10.
To make matters worse, the injury list for the home side continued to grow. With Shelvey already out, Wayne Routledge pulled up lame in the 65th minute after a challenge from Danny Rose. He waved off the physio at the time but later would be forced off.
Then Adebayor added insult to injury as he bagged his second on a break that looked all too easy for the visitors. Rose broke down the left with just a single defender back, and it left Adebayor all alone in the middle to slide simply past Gerhard Tremmel for his second.
Wilfried Bony did salvage something for the home fans, as his leaping volley in the 78th minute got Swansea something to hang their hats on.
For Tottenham, the away win is another feather in Tim Sherwood’s cap and moves them up to fifth place in the table, level on points with Liverpool for a Champions League spot.
GOALS:
Swansea – Chico 53′ (og); Bony 78′
Tottenham – Adebayor 35′, 71′
LINEUPS:
Swansea – Tremmel; Rangel, Chico, Williams, Davies; Amat, Britton, Shelvey (Lamah 51′), Pozuelo, Routledge; Bony.
Tottenham – Lloris; Walker, Chiriches, Dawson, Rose; Eriksen, Bentaleb, Dembele, Chadli (Sigurdsson 68′), Lennon (Naughton 79′); Adebayor.
