Tottenham impress with Hojbjerg and Joe Hart making debuts and Sessegnon and Son on target in friendly
PIERRE-EMILE HOJBJERG delivered an impressive Spurs debut at White Hart Lane.
Albeit against League One opposition, the £15million buy from Southampton looked exactly the type of player Tottenham have been missing in central midfield for the last couple of seasons.
Former England keeper Joe Hart also played for some of the second half in his first match since arriving on a free transfer although he barely touched the ball.
Jose Mourinho’s side won with an early strike from Ryan Sessegnon and then a couple of goals from Son Heung-min.
But for the 63 minutes he was on pitch, it was Hojbjerg who was the stand-out player.
He was comfortable with the ball and also made some decent interceptions, including one which led to the second goal.
Dele Alli looked fresh and was full of running while Ryan Sessegnon, who desperately needs a good season for Tottenham, has clearly bulked up physically during the summer.
Hojbjerg, who returns to Southampton for the second game of the season, said: “It is fantastic to be here at the Spurs stadium. Confirmation I am at the right place and the game was okay.”
Mourinho said: “People will have an idea of what he can do for us. For WInks, it was comfortable for him to play with Pierre. No injuries which is very important. We saw some good things.”
Tottenham fielded a strong team but were missing Harry Kane, who is self-isolating after a holiday in the Bahamas.
Sessegnon opened the scoring in the sixth minute with a low shot and Son got the second soon after thanks to a mix-up in the visiting defence and Hojbjerg’s intervention.
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Son delivered a clever finish by lifting the ball over advancing Ipswich keeper David Cornell.
Paul Lambert’s team played a different team in each half and looked stronger after the break.
Meanwhile, Tottenham’s next game is at home to Reading on Friday followed by another match against Birmingham 24 hours later.