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Wolves 0-2 Tottenham: Adebayor, Defoe great-finish
Emmanuel Adebayor scored on his Premier League debut for Tottenham Hotspur as the Londoners beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 at Molineux, Saturday 10/09/2011.
The striker, on loan from Manchester City, combined with summer signing Scott Parker midway through the second half to mark another debut for a Premier League club with a goal. The Togolese had previously netted in his first games for both Arsenal and City.
Jermain Defoe then doubled Tottenham's lead with 10 minutes remaining to secure Spurs' first points of the season, and at the same time condemn Wolves to their first defeat of the campaign.
Deadline-day signing Parker and Adebayor both made impressive debuts for Tottenham, while Michael Kightly made a rare start for Wolves in place of Matt Jarvis, who was dropped to the bench after suffering an ankle injury.
The corresponding fixture last season was a thrilling 3-3 draw, and this fixture began much in the same vein with play going from end-to-end.
Spurs were unfortunate not to be ahead on nine minutes when playmaker Luka Modric sent Benoit Assou-Ekotto away down the left flank with a well-weighted pass. The Spurs left-back sent in a low cross that was almost turned in by Wolves captain Roger Johnson, but keeper Wayne Hennessey made the save and Niko Kranjcar's follow-up effort was blocked.
Spurs keeper Brad Friedel had already conceded eight goals in his first two games as a Spurs player, and he was called into action twice in quick succession early in the first half.
The American palmed away a snap-shot from former Spurs midfielder Jamie O'Hara, before he showed great agility belying his 40 years of age soon afterwards when he got down low to tip Karl Henry's efforts around the far post.
Tottenham defender Ledley King made his first start of the season, and he rose unchallenged to meet a corner but sent his header down into the turf and it bounced over the bar.
After Kyle Walker was booked for fouling Kevin Doyle, Kightly whipped in a teasing delivery that Johnson and Steven Fletcher both missed at the far post.
As half-time approached, Hennessey was called into action again to palm away Jermain Defoe's strike from range, and the two sides went into the break on terms.
Soon after the restart, O'Hara fired a volley inside the box right at Friedel before Adebayor twisted and turned on the edge of the Wolves box before his eventual effort was blocked.
However, Adebayor would not be denied his first goal for a club he has scored against six times while at other clubs, and he broke the deadlock on 67 minutes.
The Togolese forward stayed onside as Parker prodded the ball through to him, and he rounded Hennessey to tap into the unguarded net and open his Spurs account.
Wolves manager Mick McCarthy sent on Jarvis and Adam Hammill as he looked to claw back an equaliser, but it was Tottenham who scored next.
Kranjcar slipped a pass into Defoe's feet from the right and the England striker fired past Hennessey on the turn to open his league account for the season after scoring just four last term.
Parker was substituted late on for Jake Livermore and received a great ovation from the travelling Spurs fans, who can now look forward to Thursday's Europa League trip to PAOK Thessaloniki with their team's season finally up and running.
Tony Mabert - on twitter @tony_mabert / Eurosport
Source: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/10092011/58/premier-league-adebayor-scores-spurs-beat-wolves.html
Team Line-up:
Wolverhampton: Hennessey, Stearman, Johnson, Berra, Ward, Kightly, Henry, O'Hara, Hunt, Doyle, Fletcher. Subs: De Vries, Elokobi, Hammill, Milijas, Vokes, Foley, Jarvis
Tottenham Hotspur: Friedel, Walker, King, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto, Kranjcar, Parker, Modric, Bale, Adebayor, Defoe. Subs: Cudicini, Bassong, Livermore, Pavlyuchenko, Townsend, Falque, Giovani.
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