LONDON — Tottenham Hotspur were beaten for the third-straight Premier League game, as Antonio Conte’s side slumped to another sloppy defeat.
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Wolves scored twice early as Raul Jimenez and Leander Dendoncker finished, and the visitors could have scored five in the first half.
In the second half Spurs improved, which wasn’t hard for them to do, as Harry Winks hit the post and Harry Kane was denied on several occasions.
With the win Wolves overtake Spurs in the table and move on to 37 points from 23 games, while Spurs have 36 games from 22 games.
Tottenham vs Wolves final score, stats
Tottenham 0-2 Wolves
Goals scored: Jimenez 6′, Dendoncker 18′
Shots: Tottenham 15, Wolves 11
Shots on target: Tottenham 6, Wolves 7
Possession: Tottenham 59, Wolves 41
Three things we learned from Tottenham vs Wolves
1. Spurs lacking in confidence: After their defeats to Chelsea and Southampton, this was a third-straight defeat in the PL for Spurs. That is the first time that’s happened to Conte (in the league) since he managed Atalanta in 2009. They are in a rut and the decision to drop Emerson Royal and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg was strange. There seemed to be a hangover from the end of their loss against Saints and Conte is struggling to turn things around at Tottenham. He must get this team believing.
2. Winks, Bentancur sloppy: Midfield mistakes were plentiful as Winks and Bentancur gave the ball away so many times as Neves, Dendoncker and Cundle snapped away at them. Spurs were lacking fight in the midfield and Wolves allowed them to play needless passes around at the box. There was no cutting edge to this Spurs display.
3. Wolves’ top four hopes alive: What a win for Wolves and they are so tough to play. What a job Bruno Lage has done. They are so solid defensively (only Chelsea and Man City have conceded less goals away from home than them) and that will always keep them in games. Podence and Jimenez caused so many problems up top and as soon as they went 2-0 up, they had the poise to hold on. Wolves are right in this top four battle. As their fans sang about playing in Europe, it seems like a first-ever Champions League spot is a real possibility.
Man of the Match: Jose Sa – Podence was a constant threat and tore Spurs to pieces early on. He is back to his best. But it was Jose Sa in goal who made some top saves and kept Wolves solid at the back.
Fast-start stuns Spurs
Wolves got off to a flier, as Ruben Neves’ shot was parried out by Hugo Lloris straight to Leander Dendoncker, then his shot was also pushed out by Lloris but it was straight to Raul Jimenez.
The Mexico star controlled and sent a superb volley into the far corner to put Wolves 1-0 up.
Harry Kane was trying to do it all on his own for Spurs, while Rodrigo Bentancur then slipped through a lovely pass to Son but he got it all wrong as he delayed his effort.
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Moments later Dendoncker tapped home after some calamitous defending. Lloris and Ben Davies were both guilty of loose passes, then Daniel Podence’s deflected shot hit the post and bounced to Dendoncker to score and stun the home fans.
Jimenez almost made it 3-0 soon after as Lloris pushed his shot out, as Spurs were all over the place at the back.
Comeback never gets going
In the second half Spurs tried to get back into the game, as Harry Kane went close but was denied by Jose Sa and Dejan Kulusevski slotted wide.
At the other end Lloris denied Jimenez with a brave stop, while Harry Winks saw a deflected shot hit the post and Sa made a fine stop from Cristian Romero’s header late on.
