Wolverhampton Wanderers incredibly fought back from a goal down to sink Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 at Molineux in Saturday’s early Premier League kickoff.
Brennan Johnson’s early strike would seemingly be enough for Spurs to sink their wasteful hosts, who lacked a clinical edge up until the 90th minute, when Pablo Sarabia drew his side level before Mario Lemina completed an astounding turnaround deep into injury time.
As injuries and suspensions took their toll, Ange Postecoglou fielded a makeshift centre-back pairing of Ben Davies and Eric Dier, while also introducing Emerson Royal and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg into the fray.
Johnson also kept his place in the Spurs attack in the wake of Richarlison’s surgery, and within just three minutes of kickoff at Molineux – which fell silent for a Remembrance Day tribute – the Welshman opened his account for the Lilywhites.
Starting the move with a smart dummy to allow a cross-field pass to reach Dejan Kulusevski, Porro overlapped the Swede, who neatly flicked the ball onto his charging right-back, and Porro sent in a low cross for Johnson to prod the ball home from close range.
Gary O’Neil’s troops responded well to Johnson’s strike – which was the third-fastest goal of the 2023-24 Premier League season so far – but Tottenham’s ravaged backline was holding firm, thanks in no small part to a handful of excellent blocks from Davies.
Not until the 33rd minute would Vicario have a meaningful save to make, as Lemina tried to pick out the far corner from a tight angle, but the Italian reacted well to tip his low drive behind for a corner.
The Tottenham backline continued to come under unrelenting pressure after the restart, only to be let off by Wolves wastefulness, as Hwang Hee-chan spurned a glorious chance in the 55th minute, tapping wide from a few yards out after Joao Gomes’s shot through a sea of bodies fell kindly for him.
Dire set-piece deliveries were also harming Wolves, who were caught cold in the 73rd minute as the quiet Son Heung-min set Johnson away on the break, but the ex-Nottingham Forest man scuffed a shot wide and appeared to sustain an injury in the process, bringing a premature end to his afternoon.
Gomes finally got a cross on the money for substitute Sasa Kalajdzic in the 85th minute, but the towering Austrian sent a terrible header wide of the mark, before Giovani Lo Celso forced Jose Sa into a fingertip save three minutes later.
However, just when the hosts’ succession of missed chances would seemingly come back to bite them, another replacement would finally break the Tottenham resistance in the 90th minute, as Matheus Cunha dinked a delightful ball over the top to find Sarabia, who controlled his pass with a sublime touch before lashing a beautiful volley into the corner at Vicario’s near post.
Six minutes of added time went up on the fourth official’s board as both sides sought a pivotal second, and as the clock ticked over to 97 minutes, Sarabia turned provider with a neat through ball to Lemina, who kept himself onside and swept home into the far corner to spark Molineux mayhem.
O’Neil sprinted down the touchline as Tottenham were condemned to back-to-back Premier League defeats, denying them the chance to rise back to the top of the table, while Wolves have shot up two places to 12th owing to their inspiring fightback.
Tottenham have two weeks to gather their thoughts before Aston Villa head to North London on November 26, while Wolves are in action away to Fulham following the international break.
