Spectacular Sarabia & Lemina Strike Sink Inconsistent Tottenham
Gary O’Neil held his emotions for a millisecond, glanced towards the fourth official, Thomas Bramall, and then let himself go, haring along the touchline, punching the air as he went. Given the season Wolves have had when it comes to VAR decisions, who could really blame him? This time, however, he need not fret for nobody was going to tell him Mario Lemina’s winner beyond the initial six minutes of second-half stoppage time would not stand.
Wolves could be forgiven for thinking their afternoon peaked moments earlier, when Pablo Sarabia, who set up Lemina for the goal with a deft, feathery pass, volleyed in after latching on to Matheus Cunha’s wedged pass. All the while Ange Postecoglou, hands in the pockets of his blue woollen trench coat, swivelled on his feet and quietly stewed.
Ordinarily, Wolves would have been staring down the barrel of a jarring defeat, with 15 shots to Spurs’ five in their favour. Until Sarabia’s strike, both teams had only two on target. Wolves passed up several chances, the best falling to Hwang Hee-chan. Until a late effort by the Spurs substitute Giovani Lo Celso, Spurs’ only shot on José Sá’s goal ended up in the back of the Wolves net, Johnson beating Nélson Semedo to the ball at the back post to convert Pedro Porro’s low cross. Dejan Kulusevski’s nonchalant flick, to free the overlapping Porro, was the catalyst.
O’Neil spent much of this game bouncing on the edge of his technical area in unbridled frustration. Hwang’s chance 10 minutes into the second half, which arrived after João Gomes’s shot pinballed towards him via a heavy deflection off Ben Davies, was one of the best from a Wolves perspective but others were guilty of fluffing their lines. O’Neil arched his back and looked to the skies after the busy Cunha ran into traffic moments earlier and then Cunha sent a wayward shot wide after a neat give-and-go with wing-back Rayan Aït-Nouri.
