Tottenham 9 - 1 Wigan: Defoe grabs a fistful of goals as Tottenham put nine past Wigan

Published on Sunday 22 November 2009 23:17

TOTTENHAM striker Jermain Defoe scored five times to send his side back into the Champions League places as Harry Redknapp's men threatened to rack up double figures against Wigan at White Hart Lane.

Paul Scharner appeared to handle when he grabbed Wigan's goal but there was no handball controversy as Defoe was in such rampant form, with Aaron Lennon, Peter Crouch, David Bentley and Niko Kranjcar grabbing the other goals.

Wilson Palacios, making his first appearance against Wigan since leaving the club in January, started the move for the ninth-minute opener by feeding Lennon on the right, with the England winger sending over a gorgeous cross between goalkeeper Chris Kirkland and centre-back Titus Bramble. Crouch was at the back post to head home.

Lennon almost added a second immediately after creating the opener, forcing Kirkland to save his volley on the rebound after Emmerson Boyce cleared off the line to deny Defoe.

Kirkland also saved from Palacios at full stretch after a 25-yard drive, while Wigan's response was a volley from Mohamed Diame that flew wide.

Tom Huddlestone was the next to go close, with a drive that shaved Kirkland's post. The visitors, however, kept looking for the counter-attack and Jason Scotland forced Heurelho Gomes to save at his near post after former Spurs full-back Erik Edman fed him the ball on the edge of the area. Charles N'Zogbia also went just over with a curling effort and got closer with a free-kick.

Defoe struck the bar before the break, then burst into a scoring frenzy after the restart.

The first came from another Lennon cross, with Defoe getting in front of Bramble and crashing his finish into the roof of the net. His second strike came after Palacios' ball forward was totally missed by Boyce, with Defoe keeping his cool to finish slot his finish into the far post.

Then came Scharner's moment of controversy. Hugo Rodallega crossed the ball from the left and the Austrian midfielder clearly used his hand to control before lashing past Gomes and into the roof of the net. The Spurs bench were furious with referee Peter Walton for letting the goal stand – but Defoe restored the three-goal cushion with his hat-trick straight away.

Lennon crossed again and this time Defoe volleyed home at the near post, meaning he wrapped up his treble in just seven minutes – still short of Robbie Fowler's record when the Liverpool favourite struck in under five.

Lennon added the fifth himself after Crouch smuggled the ball out to his team-mate from a congested penalty area, with the winger angling his finish into the far post. Defoe, in full flow now and demanding the ball, grabbed his fourth 21 minutes from the end by latching on to Vedran Corluka's ball and firing home off the post.

His fifth came after a mistake by Edman, with Defoe finishing through Kirkland's legs.

Bentley's free-kick accounted for the eighth goal, his effort going in off the bar. Kranjcar's goal, the ninth, also went in off the woodwork.

"For Jermain to get five goals was an outstanding performance," said Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp. "Yesterday in training he looked so sharp and I felt if he could carry that into the game he would be a real handful.

"You don't get too many nines in the Premier League, it's a bad day for Roberto Martinez but he'll come back even stronger and I'm sure next week he'll take it out on someone else."