Sporting Life
Diogo Jota and Raul Jimenez celebrate for Wolves
Diogo Jota and Raul Jimenez celebrate for Wolves

Tottenham 2-3 Wolves: Stunning comeback heats up the race for Champions League spots

By Press Association
Football
Sun March 01, 2020 · 6y ago

Wolves dealt a big blow to Tottenham's Premier League top-four hopes and enhanced their own as they twice came from behind to win 3-2 in north London.

Spurs had twice led through Steven Bergwijn and Serge Aurier, but Wolves hit back each time as Matt Doherty and Diogo Jota levelled before Raul Jimenez scored the winner.

The result moved the visitors above Spurs in the table and to within just three points of Chelsea, who occupy the final Champions League qualification place.

Jose Mourinho, who is shorn of key players across all areas of the pitch, will see this as a big opportunity missed, and after back-to-back defeats against top-four rivals they surely cannot now be considered favourites to get there at the end of the season.

Wolves made light of their Thursday night Europa League trip to Espanyol and carried on a remarkable record in London, where they are now unbeaten in nine games since their return to the Premier League in 2018.

Spurs head coach Mourinho has said in the absence of any strikers how important it is for his side to score first and he got his wish in the 13th minute as the hosts made an impressive start.

Harry Winks, captain for the day with Hugo Lloris not in the matchday squad, started a move that saw Aurier cross for Dele Alli, whose shot was saved by the feet of Rui Patricio, with Bergwijn in the right place to ram home the rebound.

They were unable to keep that lead for too long as Wolves were the beneficiaries of some sloppy defending from the hosts.

Ruben Vinagre got in too easily down the left and his cross was not cleared by Japhet Tanganga, allowing Doherty to squeeze home from six yards.

It was a setback for Spurs, but they responded well and looked the more dangerous.

Alli almost scored an impressive goal when he attempted an overhead kick from inside the six-yard box but he hit it straight at Patricio.

Mourinho's men did regain the lead before the interval, through, through Aurier. Alli played in the right-back, who cut inside and curled a superb left-footed effort into the far corner in the 45th minute.

They should have extended their lead 10 minutes after the restart as Alli, playing as the false nine, was in yards of space but he put his header from Ben Davies' cross agonisingly wide.

And that proved pivotal as two minutes later Wolves again drew level.

Referee Stuart Attwell played advantage when Adama Traore was fouled and the winger slipped in Doherty whose cross-shot was only palmed by Paulo Gazzaniga, allowing Jota the simplest of tap-ins.

Wolves completed their comeback in the 73rd minute as they stunned Tottenham on the counter-attack. Jota beat three men and slipped in Jimenez, with the Spanish striker cutting inside Tanganga and firing home in style.

Spurs had no answer and were unable to avoid what is a damaging defeat.

Opta Stats

  • Spurs have lost three consecutive matches in all competitions for the first time since May last year; indeed, José Mourinho has lost three straight games for only the fourth time during his managerial career, doing so once with Porto, Chelsea and Man Utd before today.
  • From the start of last season, Wolves have won 35 points from losing positions in Premier League matches, at least six more than any other side during this period.
  • Wolves have both scored and conceded in 20 different Premier League games this season (W6 D9 L5), a competition high.
  • Since the start of last season, Matt Doherty has netted eight Premier League goals for Wolves, the joint-most of all defenders in the competition alongside Liverpool skipper Virgil Van Dijk.
  • Diogo Jota has scored six goals in his last three games for Wolves in all competitions, in the space of 10 days. Indeed, his previous six goals were spread across 25 matches between August and February.
  • Steven Bergwijn is the first Tottenham player to score in his first two home Premier League appearances since Rafael van der Vaart in October 2010 – indeed, he is just the third overall, after his fellow Dutchman and Jermain Defoe (February 2004).
  • Each of Serge Aurier’s last seven league goals, across spells with Toulouse, PSG and Spurs, have come at different stadiums, with his three for Tottenham coming at Wembley (v Brighton), the Vitality Stadium (v Bournemouth) and today versus Wolves at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
  • Raúl Jiménez’s 13 Premier League goals this season have been worth 16 points to Wolves, the joint-most won thanks to a player’s goals alongside Sadio Mané and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

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