Reuters, LUTON, England, October 7 - Despite playing the entirety of the second half with 10 men, Tottenham Hotspur topped the Premier League standings with a 1-0 victory over Luton Town on Saturday.
The game's lone goal was scored in the 52nd minute by Dutch defender Micky van de Ven, who tucked in a first-time effort following a cutback from James Maddison following a Spurs short corner move.
Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou praised his squad for having "a lot of character and resilience, which the team has shown a lot in the previous games leading up to today."
After eight league games, Spurs are still unblemished. They now lead Manchester City by two points and Arsenal by three points before their matchup on Sunday. As of now, Luton has four points.
After collecting a second booking for a dive outside of the Luton area and being sent off in stoppage time at the end of the first half, the visitors eventually won all three points after breaking the score early in the second half.
Luton survived an early Spurs storm, but they failed to capitalize on their opportunities and suffered their sixth league loss of the year.
Early on, there was only one direction, and in the seventh minute, Spurs' Pedro Porro slipped in behind the keeper following a one-two with Son Heung-Min, but Porro missed with his attempt.
In the 17th minute, a Dejan Kulusevski cross was only partially cleared by Tom Lockyer, leaving Son with an open shot towards the goal, forcing another save from Luton's Thomas Kaminski.
"They started strongly, we rode our luck for the first 10 minutes or so, then we found our way into the game," said Rob Edwards, Luton's manager.
In the 21st minute, Luton attempted their first goal-scoring attempt, but Marvelous Nakamba's shot went high and wide. However, after keeping Spurs scoreless, the home team showed some bravery and started to make progress toward the goal of the visitors.
Spurs persisted, and at the halfway point Kaminski stretched out to push Kulusevski's first-time attempt wide.
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