Xavi opens account in key home win over Bees

Xavi Simons inspired us to a first Premier League win since late October with a goal and an assist as we beat Brentford 2-0 on Saturday afternoon.

The Dutch international produced arguably his best performance in our colours following his August arrival, setting up Richarlison for the opener before scoring his first goal as a Spurs player with a wonderful solo effort, leaving us in control at half-time.

We probably should have won by more as Thomas Frank came up against his former side for the first time, creating a whole host of chances which we didn’t take, while Guglielmo Vicario was only called into action once to keep out Igor Thiago in the first period. It was a first league victory and clean sheet since the 3-0 win at Everton on 26 October and a first home victory in the division since the opening day against Burnley but it was a performance to leave us with plenty of optimism going into the busy festive period and beyond.

Having lost just one of our previous eight Premier League meetings with Brentford, we made a bright start on a fairly mild afternoon in N17, Micky van de Ven with a looping header just over the bar on seven minutes before Richarlison had time to bring the ball down and get a shot away which was blocked by Nathan Collins, while Xavi drilled high and wide with an angled drive from distance. The first save of the game though was made by Vicario after 24 minutes. Kristoffer Ajer nipping in to win the ball from Richarlison on half-way and immediately playing a pass in for Thiago, who hit a first-time shot which Vicario pushed away at his near post.

However, having survived that scare, we went up the other end and opened the scoring with a lovely goal. It needed just three touches from the ball being in our right-back berth to it hitting the net, Pedro Porro with a wonderful curling pass down the flank which Xavi delivered across the box and Richarlison was there to side-foot home from six yards out.

It was almost 2-0 five minutes before the break, Pedro Porro’s deep corner headed back across goal by Cristian Romero but Randal Kolo Muani’s header was kept out by a smart save from Caoimhin Kelleher. Three minutes later though, we did double our lead thanks to Xavi’s big moment. He actually lost possession on half-way with a heavy touch but was up quickly to win it back from Sepp van den Berg and off he went, racing straight through the middle of the pitch as Brentford’s defenders backed off, all the way into the box before rolling the ball into the far corner to the delight of the Spurs faithful.

Leading 2-0 at the break, we needed to maintain our momentum in the second period and certainly did that in the early stages. We should have added a third too, Djed Spence picking up a loose ball to find himself in on goal but Kelleher saved and the Bees keeper was there again on 53 minutes, diving low to his left to deny Mohammed Kudus. At the other end shortly after, van de Ven produced one of his trademark last-ditch tackles to prevent Thiago getting a shot away and 12 minutes later, his centre-back partner Romero had to do similar to the Brentford forward, just getting a touch on the ball as he was about to shoot from 10 yards out.

We had the ball in the net 11 minutes from time, Kudus with a neat finish from a tight angle but substitute Wilson Odobert was offside in the build-up, before another sub, Pape Matar Sarr, had a great chance, receiving Spence’s cut-back 12 yards out in the centre of the goal but taking too long to shoot and Kelleher was out quick to smother. Thiago had a late chance to give the visitors a lifeline but fired into the side-netting with an angled drive and that was pretty much the end of the action as the final whistle blew on a relatively comfortable victory in north London.

Match data

Goals: Spurs – Richarlison 25, Xavi 43.

Yellow cards: Spurs – Romero, Pedro Porro, Gray; Brentford – Kayode, Ajer, Schade, Yarmoliuk.

Referee: Robert Jones.

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Weather: Light rain showers, gentle breeze, 12 degrees.

Attendance: 60,759.