Tottenham whisked away all three points against Wolves on Sunday as Dele Alli converted a penalty nine minutes into the match.
This was Alli’s first league goal in 17 months as Harry Kane made his long-awaited return from his extended summer break amid rumours of a potential transfer to Manchester City.
Tottenham has maintained a perfect start to the season with victory over the Cityzens last week and Wolves this week.
Wolves were unable to take back any points, even with an enthusiastic crowd cheering their every move.
The dangerous Adama Traore wasted the best of a succession of chances for the hosts when he was sent through by Ruben Neves, only to shoot straight at Hugo Lloris.
Tottenham, though, could justifiably argue they could have won by more.
Wolves keeper Jose Sa made four excellent second-half saves, including one to deny Kane a comeback goal.
It was a day to remember for new Spurs boss Nuno Espirito Santo, who was a hugely popular figure in his four years as Wolves boss before leaving in the summer. Now he appears to be bringing some stability back to a club that appeared in chaos for the last few months.
All the noise around Kane has obscured the positive work Nuno has been doing since his Spurs arrival after their protracted search for Jose Mourinho’s replacement.
One of the Portuguese’s tactical tweaks involves pushing Alli into a slightly deeper role than he is used to.
An England World Cup star in 2018, the 25-year-old has slipped a long way down Gareth Southgate’s list of options since then.
He seems to have benefitted from both a new manager and a summer off.
After a decent opening-day contribution to the memorable win against Manchester City, Alli was heavily involved at Molineux, taking advantage of the cover provided by defensive midfield duo Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Oliver Skipp.
There is nothing wrong with his confidence either, given Alli was the man brought down by Sa as he ran onto Sergio Reguilon’s through-ball before calmly rolling the penalty into the bottom corner.
The gap between Alli’s last two top-flight goals covered exactly the one between full stadiums being at games as his previous effort at Burnley was in the weekend before lockdown in March 2020.
