Tottenham continued their perfect start to their Europa League campaign with a 1-0 win over AZ Alkmaar that could have been chalked up as a routine victory, if not for the performance of Mikey Moore, with the 17-year-old truly emerging on the European stage.
Spurs and AZ traded blows in the first half-hour but it was the hosts who engineered the two best chances; first, in the opening two minutes, Moore sent a header just wide, and on 26 minutes, Lucas Bergvall sent a superb through ball to Timo Werner over the offside trap, but the winger simply passed the ball tamely into the goalkeeper's arms.
After the restart, Spurs quickly had the lead, as Richarlison scored from the spot after Bergvall was fouled in the box. There appeared to be a disagreement between the striker and James Maddison before the kick was taken, but the Brazilian won out to finish from 12 yards.
Alkmaar repeatedly tested Spurs' backline, and brought a couple of decent saves from Fraser Forster, with ex-Spurs striker Troy Parrott leading the line dangerously.
However, all of their attacking threat dissipated with five minutes to go when they were reduced to 10 men; Moller Wolfe was given his marching orders after he collected two yellow cards in quick succession.
In injury time, a slick move gave the returning Wilson Odobert a huge chance but he could only screw the ball just wide of the post. A VAR check for a penalty followed, but was swiftly cleared.