The Archive | Norwich City 0-2 Spurs | 27.12.11
Thu 19 May 2022, 18:00|Tottenham Hotspur
We were flying when we faced the Canaries at Carrow Road during Christmas, 2011.
We’d started 2011/12 with back-to-back defeats, but a run of one loss in 19, including 14 wins, took us into the top four by mid-November and, but for one week, we stayed there until the end of the season.
Gareth Bale was now a worldwide star after his displays in 2010/11, particularly in the Champions League, and was at his untouchable best here as we maintained third place going into the New Year.
After a close-range finish put us 1-0 up 10 minutes into the second half, Bale delivered one of his best goals in a Spurs shirt to secure the points. Picking up the ball from Luka Modric inside our half, the Welsh star took off, sprinting through the heart of Norwich’s defence, leaving three players in his wake before having the calmness, at full pelt, to dink the ball over John Ruddy.
In the end, a run of one win in eight in March and April cost us third place, by a point, and heartbreak followed when Chelsea won the Champions League to take the final place in the competition in 2012/13.
Norwich 0-2 Spurs - the highlights
Match data
Norwich City: Ruddy, Drury (Bennett 75), Martin, Whitbread, De Laet (Barnett 64), Crofts (Pilkington 75), Hoolahan, Fox, Surman, Holt, Morison. Substitutes (not used): Rudd, Jackson, Johnson, Wilbraham.
Spurs: Friedel, Walker, Kaboul, Gallas, Assou-Ekotto (Rose 72), Parker (Livermore 90+4), Modric, Sandro, van der Vaart (Kranjcar 86), Bale, Adebayor. Substitutes (not used): Gomes, Bassong, Pienaar, Pavlyuchenko.
Goals: Spurs - Bale 55, 67.
Venue: Carrow Road.
Attendance: 26,807.