Jan Vertonghen makes case for defence

Jan Vertonghen praised his Tottenham team-mates for maintaining their impressive form ahead of the visit of Juventus with Saturday’s 2-0 win over Huddersfield.

The Belgian defender came through unscathed, having returned to Spurs’ starting XI following his recovery from an ankle injury, and is expected to retain his place for the Champions League clash with the Italian giants on Wednesday.

Tottenham, who drew the away leg of their last-32 tie 2-2 in Turin, extended their unbeaten run to 17 matches with victory over the Terriers.

Jan Vertonghen praised his Tottenham team-mates for maintaining their impressive form

Vertonghen told the club’s official website: ‘It’s what we’ve been saying and working on, being wary of the counter-attack, and I think we’ve been doing that very well in the last couple of months.

‘We’ve been defending very well, even one-on-one. Defensively it was another good performance. It was very good from both sides on the pitch (attacking and defending). It was a good performance like we’ve been playing in the last few weeks.’

Spurs were so convincing it was a surprise that they only won by two goals, both scored by Son Heung-min.

‘We were a bit unlucky, we could have scored many goals,’ he said. ‘With just two, we feel a bit sad. Of course, we want to score more goals, but we are happy to get three points.’

While victory kept Spurs on track for a top-four finish, defeat left Huddersfield only three points above the bottom three.

Next week they host Swansea, before successive fixtures with Crystal Palace, Newcastle, Brighton and Watford that will define their season.

Vertonghen in action in Spurs' 2-0 win over Huddersfield at Wembley on Saturday afternoon

Vertonghen in action in Spurs’ 2-0 win over Huddersfield at Wembley on Saturday afternoon

Goalkeeper Jonas Lossl told the club’s official website: ‘We came out with a clear tactic in the second half and created what we were hoping for.

‘We defended well during most of the game, but if you give Spurs two metres they have so much quality which means you lose to teams like this.

‘We all agreed that this defeat can’t affect us right now. We all know Tottenham is a fantastic team – they showed that.

‘So instead of focusing on what went wrong, we need to focus on what went right and bring that into next week.’

Tottenham's Son Heung-Min takes on Jonas Lossl of Huddersfield to score a goal to make it 1-0

Tottenham’s Son Heung-Min takes on Jonas Lossl of Huddersfield to score a goal to make it 1-0



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