Tottenham replicate league form and ease by Fiorentina

Tottenham 3 Fiorentina 0

This felt like a snapshot of Tottenham Hotspur’s progress. At around the same time last year, Mauricio Pochettino’s team had wobbled under a sequence of fixtures that proved too much for them. Part of the run saw an exit over two legs from the Europa League last 32 at the hands of Fiorentina.

It was the same opponents at the same stage of the same competition here at White Hart Lane but a different outcome, as the confidence that is coursing Tottenham ranks was writ large across the occasion. Fiorentina sit third in Serie A and the manager, Paulo Sousa, put out his strongest possible lineup. But they were never in with a sniff.

Ryan Mason scored a lovely opening goal on 25 minutes – his fourth for the club – and Erik Lamela made sure of things just after the hour with his ninth of the season. Only Harry Kane has scored for the club this time out. Lamela loves this competition. There have been no rabonas in it this time out but six goals.

The scoreline was gilded by an own- goal from the Fiorentina captain, Gonzalo Rodríguez, who turned Kieran Trippier's cross into the roof his net and the only blot for Tottenham was the 78th minute booking for Dele Alli.

Otherwise outstanding, Alli was pulled up for diving and he will be banned for the first-leg of the last 16.

Tottenham had begun with a slight advantage from last week's first leg – in other words, an away goal and no deficit – and Pochettino, as is his wont, went all in with his selection. There was no resting of the biggest stars and even though there were changes, the intention was to retain the club's momentum, which the manager insisted had not been jolted by last Sunday's FA Cup exit here against Crystal Palace.

Tottenham went ahead midway through the first half and the goal was a celebration of Ryan Mason’s technique and composure. He has long wanted to add goals to his game and when he finishes like this, the hope springs eternal.

Dele Alli, so central to everything Tottenham did and not only in terms of his starting position in the No10 role, sprinted towards a low ball but Davide Astori slid in to tackle. The ball broke towards Mason, not kindly but he made it look that way with his first touch. In on goal, he did everything right before stroking a low shot past Ciprian Tatarusanu into the far corner.

Alli was a blur of tricks and industry in behind Nacer Chadli, who started in place of Harry Kane, who was out with a broken nose, and Tottenham controlled the first half. They might have had a penalty in the early running, when Kieran Trippier's cross thudded into Marcos Alonso's hands, which were raised together in front of his chest. Trippier was convinced it had to be a penalty and what saved Alonso in the eyes of the referee, Ovidiu Hategan, was probably that his hands were not away from his body.

Tottenham had other moments in the first half, most notably when Eric Dier flashed a header from Lamela’s corner wide – Alli could not get a decisive touch to it at the far post – and Christian Eriksen worked Tatarusanu with a curler from outside the area. Fiorentina’s only flicker before the interval came when Josip Ilicic cut inside and bent a shot wide of the far post. There were no nerves from either Pochettino’s team or the crowd, even before Lamela spun and shot home after Chadli’s shot had been beaten out by Tatarusanu. And after Rodríguez had suffered his moment of misfortune, Tottenham might have had more through Mason and Eriksen.

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