WHITE HART LANE has been Tottenham’s home ground for 118 years, but this afternoon the Norther Londoners say goodbye to the stadium in its current guise.
It will be demolished next week to make way for a new venue, and Spurs are set to play next season’s home matches at Wembley.
Before all that, there’s the small matter of a Premier League fixture against Manchester United. Mauricio Pochettino’s men may have missed out on the title, but they can confirm their status as runners-up with victory.
The Red Devils, meanwhile, are likely to finish outside the top four after last Sunday’s 2-0 defeat to Arsenal and the Europa League final is now Jose Mourinho’s main priority.
Here are the teams:
Tottenham: Lloris, Trippier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Davies, Wanyama, Dier, Eriksen, Alli, Son, Kane.
Manchester United: De Gea; Bailly, Jones, Smalling; Tuanzebe, Carrick, Rooney, Blind; Lingard, Mata; Martial.
Ben Davies continues to deputise for Danny Rose, who has returned to training but is deemed fit enough to make the squad. Eric Lamela and Harry Winks remain out, but Spurs have no other fresh injury worries and start with their strongest team, which these days means wantaway full-back Kyle Walker is on the bench.
United are without world record transfer signing Paul Pogba, who misses out due to the death of his father. Luke Shaw (foot), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (knee), Marcos Rojo (knee), Ashley Young (hamstring) and Timothy Fosu-Mensah (shoulder) are all out, and it looks like captain Wayne Rooney will play in midfield.
Full-time at the London Stadium, where Liverpool have claimed a 4-0 win over West Ham.
The Reds, who are up to third on 73 points, take a significant step towards qualifying for next season’s Champions League thanks to goals from Daniel Sturridge, Philippe Coutinho [2] and Divock Origi.
All Tottenham’s great players have come along for the club’s big day. Here’s a video featuring the likes of Robbie Keane, Stephen Carr, Dimitar Berbatov, Ledley King, Pat Jennings and Peter Crouch…
Dimitar Berbatov, Pat Jennings, @RayClem1, Mike England, @LedleyKing, @PeterCrouch, Keano, Carr and more on #TheLaneTheFinale! #COYS pic.twitter.com/YmfELpi1uW
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) May 14, 2017
The sides are in the tunnel and we’re all set to go…
The atmosphere looks top notch, to be fair.
Kick-off – It’s the visitors to get us underway and, from the off, Jesse Lingard goes on a solo run. He beats two players before running into Jan Vertonghen.
That was ambitious. The ball falls to Rooney at the halfway line and he looks to catch out Lloris, who is 18 yards out from goal. The England striker can’t execute the long range finish though, and Spurs’ keeper saves without too much hassle.
GOAL! Tottenham 1-0 Manchester United (Victor Wanyama)
An early goal and it’s gone to the home side! Eriksen’s short corner is played to Davies, who puts in a beautiful ball. Wanyama outjumps Rooney to head past De Gea. The stadium erupts.
Bailly gets down the right flank and crosses into the Spurs box, but it’s put behind for a corner. When the set-piece is swung in, Rooney heads over.
Big chance for Spurs. Son skips past Rooney and Tuanzebe before drilling the ball straight at De Gea. The ball comes back out to Eriksen, who shoots wide of the mark.
More goof play from Tottenham. Kane leaves Jones in his wake and looks to pick a team-mate out in a central position. It’s blocked, but Spurs have a corner.
That is initially cleared, but when Eriksen puts the cross back in, Kane gets in front of De Gea to hear over.
De Gea has to palm away a deflected effort before Bailly hacks the ball clear. It’s been all Spurs so far.
De Gea called into action yet again. Alli bursts forward and sends a shot towards goal, where the Spanish goalkeeper gets a strong hand to it.
United are finally beginning to get it together. They’ve held onto possession for the first time in the game, and Martial appears to have won a corner but it’s Spurs who are awarded the goal-kick.
Wanyama gives the ball away cheaply and Lingard puts Martial in. The Frenchman looks go by Vertonghen with his pace, but the defender uses his body well to snuff out the run.
Rooney threads a pass through to Bailly and the Ivorian attempts to cut the ball back when a shot looked the smart option. A wasted opportunity.
Half-time: Tottenham 1-0 Manchester United
Half-time stats courtesy of Squawka:
Second half – They’re back at it. No changes to either side.
GOAL! Tottenham 2-0 Manchester United (Harry Kane)
Alli wins what looks to be a soft free-kick, and Eriksen delivers to the front post. It’s a smashing ball in and Kane gets the deftest of touches to beat De Gea — doubling the home side’s lead.
Just wide! Son cuts through the middle of the park and finds Kane. He steps inside and tries to curl an effort into the top corner. It’s a few yards off target though.
The United midfield are all over the place at the moment and, throughout the team, they look second best.
Harry Kane finishing past David De Gea…
Lingard shoots wide from 20 yards out after some good build-up play. United are about to make a double change with Ander Herrera and Henrikh Mkhitaryan preparing to come on.
Substitutions - Tuanzebe, who has had a difficult day in midfield, is replaced by Herrera. Lingard also comes of to be replaced by Mkhitaryan.
United counter attack with Rooney finding Martial. The Frenchman does down the left flank, cuts inside Trippier and curls a shot just past Lloris’ post.
GOAL! Tottenham 2-1 Manchester United (Wayne Rooney)
United have one back. Great work from Martial on the left as he makes room to play the ball into the danger area. Rooney gets a touch on the ball but it comes off Alderweireld on the way in.
Yellow card – Martial has looked in the mood in the last few minutes. He goes past Wanyama and the Spurs midfielder cynically takes him down — earning a booking as a result.
Another change – Mata is being withdrawn for Marcus Rahsford. Meanwhile, Trippier is down receiving treatment.
Spurs sub – Kyle Walker, who looks to be on the way out of the club this summer, is on for the injured Trippier.
Five minutes of additional time to be played
Spurs take off Eriksen — who has been brilliant today — for Georges-Kevin Nkoudou.
That wasn’t too far away. Carrick plays a ball over the top for Rashford and the striker squeezes between three Spurs players before trying a lob. He gets his angles wrong and it’s wide.
Full-time: Tottenham 2-1 Manchester United
They might be awhile clearing this lot off the pitch before the farewell ceremony gets underway.
"Please return to your seats" #TheLaneTheFinale pic.twitter.com/lp2p9sqVCA
— Simon Peach (@SimonPeach) May 14, 2017
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