Tottenham Hotspur missed out on temporarily jumping to second place in the Premier League, but at least they didn’t lose their home game against bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton. Joao Palhinha scored the much-celebrated equalizer in what was a special week for him.
The conditions before the game could not have been more different: Spurs, who had made a strong start, were in third place with ten points, while Wolverhampton were bottom of the table with no points. Accordingly, the home side were determined to impose their game on their opponents from the start. However, they only succeeded to a limited extent.
With former Wolfsburg player van de Ven, Bayern loanee Joao Palhinha and former Leipzig player Xavi, there were familiar faces from the Bundesliga on the Spurs’ pitch. Xavi then created the first big chance: his cross found Kudus, who headed the ball in from close range and was probably already celebrating in his mind. But keeper Johnstone made an incredible save and somehow managed to deflect the ball onto the crossbar (15′). Shortly before the end of the first half hour, the fans were also cheering, but Kudus’ goal after fine interplay with Bergvall was disallowed by VAR (28′). Wolverhampton had their best chance of the first half seconds before the break, when former Spurs pro Doherty hit the crossbar after an Arias corner (45+4).
Bueno keeps his cool
After the break, it took only nine minutes for the visitors to celebrate and dream of their first win of the season: once again, it was Arias who sent a dangerous corner into the five-meter box. Bueno kept his cool in the chaos and poked the ball into the goal (54′).
Spurs coach Thomas Frank gradually brought on fresh players, including former Munich player Tel late in the game, but the decisive gap refused to open up. Just when the game seemed lost, Sarr set up Joao Palhinha on the left side of the penalty area. And the Portuguese player scored with a superb shot into the bottom right corner (90+4).
The stadium went wild, the goalscorer ripped off his jersey and was shown a yellow card seconds later. But it was also a special week for the player on loan from Munich: he had already scored a dream bicycle kick in the 3-0 win against Doncaster in the League Cup last Wednesday. Overall, it was his third competitive goal for his new club, where he seems to be indispensable.
Coach Frank would probably have no objection to another goal on Tuesday. Then it’s off to Bodö/Glimt in the Champions League, before the tricky away game at newly promoted Leeds United awaits next Saturday (1:30 p.m.).
