Unbeaten and up to second. All told, a very successful away day for Spurs. Manager Mauricio Pochettino tested his squad by resting key players Danny Rose, Eric Dier and Moussa Dembele ahead of the tricky midweek Champions League tie in Moscow against CSKA.

With Harry Kane out through injury, all eyes were on how this particular lineup would measure up against a Middlesbrough side desperate for points, early in the season. But really, for most of the game, there was only one team in this with Spurs utterly dominating throughout.

And the Hot Spur of the moment is undoubtably Son Heung-Min, who took only 7 minutes to register after neat interplay with Vincent Janssen in the penalty box and then making things happen for himself in the 23rd minute with a superb curling finish. Son now has 4 goals from the last 3 games. 

And it was one-way traffic for the rest of the half as Middlesbrough struggled to cope with Spurs’ dynamic play and intricate passing. Dele Alli wasted a simple chance and failed to provide Spurs with the necessary cushion.

The second half saw Spurs fading a little – losing the impetus they had in the first – which allowed Middlesbrough a glimmer of hope as Boro’s Ben Gibson scored from a set piece. However, it was not to be, as Middlesbrough struggled to penetrate the Spurs defence (the meanest in the Premier League) and Spurs somewhat coasted to a comfortable victory.

COYS!

Lloris, Walker, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Davies, Wanyama, Alli, Sissoko (Lamela), Eriksen (N’Koudou), Son, Janssen (Winks).

… still there’s more …