Wanyama, Alderweireld, Davies and Kane react to 'important win'

Victor Wanyama, Toby Alderweireld, Ben Davies and Harry Kane all agreed that Saturday’s win over Middlesbrough was an important one for our position in the Premier League table.

We consolidated second spot thanks to a 1-0 victory at White Hart Lane, with Harry Kane’s second-half penalty finally breaching Boro’s defence.

Defender Toby hit the post before the break with a header from a corner while we had a handful of opportunities on the counter-attack without being able to capitalise.

However, when the full-time whistle sounded we were in front and, according to the players after the game, that’s all that matters…

Victor Wanyama

On the result
“We did what we had to do. We had a lot of chances, they didn’t go in for us but we got the penalty and Harry put it away, so we’re really happy with the result. It was an important win against a tough side. These teams are fighting for their lives at the moment and it’s difficult to win these games but if we can continue getting the wins, it will get us to a good place so hopefully we’ll continue and see where we end up.”

On fans predicting a goal from him on Facebook Live pre-match show
“Sure, we keep playing keep working hard and sometimes I’ll be lucky enough to get a big chance and one will go in! It’s a bit tough. We try to train to be good finishers, it’s just difficult.”

Toby Alderweireld

On the outcome
“We defended well. We could have made it easier by scoring a second or third goal but it’s important just to win these games, especially with teams around us dropping points.”

Does that give you an added incentive?
“You are always hungry before a game at the Lane but it gave us the feeling we could get more points than our opponents so it was important to get the three points today, especially with Liverpool away being our next game.”

On finding the breakthrough
“You need a little luck as well, like my header that hit the post or Harry’s header – if one of those goes in then it’s much easier but we kept control of the game. If you don’t score you have to keep clean sheets and stay tight and we’ve done that for a few weeks now. That’s certainly going in the right direction.”

On Harry’s penalty
“You can always count on Harry. He works so hard for the team. He was unlucky a few times but he takes responsibility from the penalty spot and we’re all very happy.”

Ben Davies

On the clean sheet
“It’s what you want to do as a defender – keep clean sheets – and luckily enough we were able to do that today. We did create a lot of chances at the other end but just couldn’t capitalise on the positions we got ourselves in, but in the end our pressure told. They were a tough team to play against, it was a difficult game but we managed to get the three points in the end.”

Was it frustrating not to be able to score more?
“Not frustrating, it’s 11 of us that have to try to chip in and sort things. As a whole team we just want to get that goal and get that feeling of relief but we fought hard. We’ve got a young squad here and our aim is to keep improving all the time – the manager drills that into us and it’s up to us to show it on the pitch.”

Did results elsewhere affect your mindset before kick-off?
“Not really, we were focusing fully on ourselves but of course when you see those results it kind of spurs you on to keep on challenging and keep on going and today we did that.”

On Liverpool away next weekend
“We’ve seen they’re not on the greatest run but they’re still a very, very good team and they’re going to be dangerous to play against, especially at home. It’s one we’re looking forward to and we’ve got to go into it looking to get the points.”

Harry Kane

On his penalty
“I’ve been practising them – the last one was at Southampton and that went miles up into the stands so I’ve been waiting for one to put that right! It was great play from Sonny and I was delighted to put it away.”

On breaking through the Boro defence
“We found the same sort of thing against Sunderland on Tuesday and we knew today would be similar. We played better today and created lots of chances, on another day we would have scored more but that doesn’t matter, we won the game 1-0, we got the three points and we move on to the next one.”