Wolverhampton Wanderers stunned Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 with stoppage-time goals from Pablo Sarabia and Mario Lemina on Saturday, thwarting the visitors in their bid to reclaim top spot in the Premier League table.
Gary OโNeilโs decision to bring on Sarabia as a late substitute paid off handsomely as the Spaniard scored the equaliser in the 91st minute and provided the pass for the 97th-minute winner.
The result left Spurs second in the standings behind Manchester City, while Wolves climbed to 12th ahead of the weekendโs other fixtures.
โIt is an amazing feeling, weโve been pushing so hard. We deserve this game,โ Lemina told TNT Sports.
โWe had the best tactics to play against them and we showed it today. I scored the winner and Iโm really happy.โ
Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou was forced to field a makeshift back four due to injuries and suspensions, with the only regular in the starting lineup being Pedro Porro.
But the right back made an impact inside three minutes when he combined with Dejan Kulusevski to cross the ball into the box and set up 22-year-old Brennan Johnson for a tap-in from close range โ his first goal for the club.
The first half had end-to-end action despite a lack of clear-cut chances and Wolvesโ best opportunity came after the half-hour mark when Lemina forced a fine reflex save from Spurs keeper Guglielmo Vicario.
Wolves played positively in the second half, with Jean-Ricner Bellegarde and Rayan Ait-Nouri successfully taking on players with the ball several times, but they lacked the quality in the final third to produce an equaliser.
Hwang Hee-Chan and Sasa Kalajdzic both saw efforts go wide as Spurs clung to their advantage, but Sarabia finally gave the home side an equaliser in the 91st minute when he expertly controlled Matheus Cunhaโs cross and volleyed home from an angle.
With a draw on the cards, Wolves took a quick free kick in the 97th minute and Lemina timed his run perfectly to get on the end of Sarabiaโs pass to stroke the ball into the bottom corner for all three points.
โIt is always a tough game here. Wolves are always going to come on strong and we ran out of legs at the end,โ Postecoglou said.
โIt is understandable, a lot of those guys havenโt played. They scored a couple of good goals, a hard one to take.โ
