Heung-Min Son’s late header helped below-par Tottenham pick up their first league victory of 2020 with a 2-1 defeat of Norwich – but Jose Mourinho will know there is plenty of work to do if his side are to further close the six-point gap on the top four.
Dele Alli tucked in Tottenham’s first Premier League goal of the year from Serge Aurier’s low cross on 38 minutes after both sides had spurned good chances in the early exchanges but the hosts failed to kick-on.
Teemu Pukki made bottom-of-the-league Norwich’s second-half dominance count, squeezing his penalty past Hugo Lloris – who had made a surprise return from injury to start – but Son’s header from Alli’s deflected shot ended the visitors’ hopes of a turnaround.
The result moves Spurs to within two wins of fourth-placed Chelsea, while Norwich have a six-point gap of their own to overcome if they are to escape relegation.
Tottenham had failed to find the net in their past three Premier League games but were immediately on the front foot, with Erik Lamela following up an early free-kick attempt by drawing a sharp save from Tim Krul with a volley on 10 minutes.
However, Norwich showed their own attacking intent on the quarter-hour mark, when Todd Cantwell capped an impressive spell of possession with a neat pass through to Pukki from the edge of the area but the Finn was surprisingly wasteful, snatching his shot wide.
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