Sat 28 January 2023, 21:45
Tottenham HotspurCristian Stellini heaped praise on our back three and Heung-Min Son after a dominant 3-0 win against Preston North End in the Emirates FA Cup fourth round on Saturday.
It was a new-look defensive line-up after Monday night’s 1-0 win at Fulham, including Fraser Forster in for Hugo Lloris and that central back three of Japhet Tanganga, Davinson Sanchez and Clement Lenglet. Davinson captained the team for the first time in a competitive fixture.
Always in control, the clean sheet provided the platform for Sonny to deliver the win with two clinical finishes in the second half. The crucial opener arrived five minutes into the second half as the Korean star dispatched what is becoming a trademark curler from 25 yards with his left foot, before driving home from 12 yards on 68 minutes.
Match report - Preston 0-3 Spurs
The icing on the cake arrived four minutes from time as substitute Arnaut Danjuma finished impressively from Dejan Kulusevski’s cross just 15 minutes after coming on for his Spurs debut.
Speaking to SPURSPLAY, Cristian said: “It was what we expected from this game, and what we expected from the players who didn’t play in the last game (against Fulham).
“Sonny waited for his moment and the momentum in the game to find the target. We are also excited to work with Arnaut. We want to discover this player. He has good qualities we can use in many positions in attack.
“We are happy with him, happy with the team and I want to give a lot of compliments to the three at the back, because they played a great game. We’re so happy. It was a good evening for Davinson to be captain, a clean sheet and to lead the defensive line.”
Speaking later in his press conference, Cristian added: “Preston defended very well in the first half, they ran a lot and I mentioned the three at the back because they never allowed them to counter-attack in the first half, and it was a good first half. Then the difference in the second half was Sonny finding the target and that created the comfort.”
