adminLondon. — Jan Vertonghen scored a dramatic late winner 1-2 as Tottenham ended Wolves’ 11-match unbeaten Premier League run to narrow the gap on the top four with victory at Molineux yesterday.
Vertonghen headed in from a corner in injury time, after Wolves’ relentless approach had been rewarded as Adama Traore thumped in a deserved equaliser from the edge of the box midway through the second half.
Following a breathless opening period, Lucas Moura’s mazy run and exquisite finish into the roof of the net had put Tottenham ahead after eight minutes.
Spurs had to withstand intense pressure as Wolves chased an equaliser, but it was they who went closest before half-time as Eric Dier struck the post from Dele Alli’s delightful, dinked pass.
Tottenham goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga produced an excellent save from Romain Saiss’ header in the closing stages as Jose Mourinho’s visitors hung on, before Vertonghen’s decisive goal.
Victory sees Tottenham climb above Wolves to fifth, three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea who they face next Sunday. Ahead of his side’s trip to Molineux, Tottenham boss Mourinho made clear his belief that Spurs will qualify for next season’s Champions League via a top-four finish in the Premier League.
Vertonghen’s late header has suddenly turned that into a very realistic prospect, with Spurs set to welcome the Blues — who slumped to a fourth league defeat in five against Bournemouth on Saturday — to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium next weekend.
With the top-four door ajar, Spurs made a purposeful start as Son Heung-min saw an attempt stopped by Rui Patricio, but it did not take long for their early enthusiasm to pay off as Moura’s fast feet and emphatic finish stunned Wolves.
A second goal always appeared crucial for Mourinho’s side, who had conceded at least two goals in five of their six games under the Portuguese prior to kick-off, as the energetic hosts dominated in possession and territory.
Often unconvincing, the Spurs backline weathered the storm and allowed for counter opportunities – but Dier was unable to provide the finish that Alli’s sublime pass over the Wolves defence deserved.
Outplayed and having not kept a clean sheet away from home since New Year’s Day — a club-record run of 16 matches — Traore’s equaliser came as no surprise.
What will delight Mourinho, however, was the determined manner of his side’s response to conceding, and a confidence-boosting late winner that puts their top-four hopes firmly in their own hands.
Meanwhile, The problem with this Manchester United team is that they look just as likely to finish fourteenth as they do fourth, after they drew 1-1 with Everton.
That says as much about them as it does a rather congested Premier League.
Here at Old Trafford we saw both sides of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s strange team.
In the first half — after a bright but brief start — United were slow and disjointed with the ball and desperately vulnerable without it. Everton, improved under the up and at ‘em leadership of Duncan Ferguson, were able to bully them at times and thanks to a catastrophic own goal from Victor Lindelof, United fell behind. But from that point on, they were better.
Despite its obvious limitations, the strength of this United side is to be found in the directness and pace of their young forward players. And after half an hour of growing second half pressure, the equaliser arrived courtesy of the left foot of 18-year-old substitute Mason Greenwood.
With time left on the clock for a classic late surge, Old Trafford waited. But it didn’t arrive. Instead, United reverted to the rather timid, inward-looking version of themselves they had presented in the opening period and by the end a draw felt much better for Everton than it did for United.
So a little of the momentum taken from recent wins over Tottenham and Manchester City has been lost and that is a significant part of Solskjaer’s problem.
For all Solskjaer’s endlessly positive talk about his team, United still do not feel good enough.
In the Everton goal Jordan Pickford looked vulnerable all day, showing uncertain judgement and making a meal of shots that he really should have caught comfortably. But for too long, United did not test the England goalkeeper.
In fact, Everton fashioned the best chance of the closing stages as David de Dea pushed away a shot from Alex Iwobi. United started as brightly as you probably would have expected after two recent wins but their threat decreased significantly as the first half progressed, which made a Jesse Lingard miss in the first minute feel particularly costly.
The game was only 15 seconds old when United midfielder Fred caused some panic in the Everton penalty area and when the ball broke to Lingard he was only about 10 yards out in the centre of goal.
With his back to the target, Lingard swivelled to strike a first-time shot with his right foot as the ball rolled across his path.
The strike was okay but not perfect and that made the difference as the ball rolled a foot the wrong side of the post.
It felt like a good chance at the time but it was soon followed by others as Everton struggled to settle down. A superb long pass by Lindelof gave Marcus Rashford a run on goal and the forward’s lovely first touch allowed him to shoot powerfully on the gallop.
Once again the ball flashed wide as it did once again soon after as Jordan Pickford failed to emerge from goal to cut out a pass to Daniel James and the Welshman pulled a right foot effort across the front of goal. — MailOnline.
Online Reporter