Steven Bergwijn scored twice in stoppage time for Tottenham to stage one of the craziest comebacks in Premier League history to beat Leicester 3-2.
Leicester looked set for three points with the clock at 95 minutes at 2-1 up but two goals in 80 seconds from the substitute Bergwijn turned the game completely around and left the Foxes in complete shock.
“To get two goals like that in stoppage time – it’s a game I’ll never forget for the rest of my career,” Harry Kane told BT Sport.
The victory moves Tottenham above Arsenal into fifth and they are just one point off West Ham in fourth and have three games in hand on the Hammers. Spurs play Chelsea next on Super Sunday.
Leicester took the lead against the run of play on 24 minutes when Patson Daka squeezed home a finish beyond Hugo Lloris.
Spurs, who had already had two efforts cleared off the line and saw Kane crash a header against the crossbar, fully deserved their leveller that came on 38 minutes when the England striker danced through the Leicester defence and finished in confident fashion.
Antonio Conte’s side registered 27 shots in the match, creating an expected goals figure of 4.49 but Leicester stayed in the contest and hit Spurs with a sucker punch with 14 minutes to go.
Substitute Harvey Barnes made an immediate impact with a cute touch to send James Maddison through on goal and his deflected effort skipped in off the post. The silky Maddison has now racked up 15 goal involvements this season and scored five goals in his last six appearances.
Leicester looked to be strolling to victory but Bergwijn, who has been the subject of transfer interest from Ajax and Sevilla, hammered home from close range on 90+5 minutes after some tenacious play from fellow substitute Matt Doherty.
Leicester then completely capitulated when Youri Tielemans squandered possession from kick-off to Kane, who threatened a fine ball in behind the hapless pair of Jannik Vestergaard and Caglar Soyuncu and Bergwijn somehow kept his cool to finish off the inside of the post. Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers called his team “naive” for throwing the three points away in such an embarrassing fashion.
A remarkable finish to a remarkable game.
Sky Sports’ Lewis Jones writes:
Bergwijn could have been posing in one of those social media welcome photos for a new club rather than turning out for Spurs at the King Power. He’s been part of speculation linking him with a move to Ajax and Sevilla since the January window opened but it seems that Conte wants him around. That decision looks a masterstroke (he’s not got too many wrong, has he?) considering his impact in this quite breathtaking game.
Having come on in the 79th minute for Spurs, he looked fully motivated to drag his team back into a match they had dominated for large periods. A waved away penalty appeal caused him to react angrily to accusations of simulation from Soyuncu, drawing the Dutchman a booking. But he would have the last laugh – in a big way.
His first finish was all about instinct and being in the right place at the right time while the second was a masterclass in how to finish when all around you are losing their heads. The pass from Kane needs a mention. It was defence splitting to the extreme and capped a wonderful display from the England captain who was in unplayable mood. Quite how he only registered one goal from his 10 attempts on goal will probably be keeping him awake this evening, if the adrenaline from this memorable finish to the game does not.
Bergwijn’s finish from Kane’s pass, considering the circumstances and that his blood would have been pumping faster than usual, made even the neutrals jump out of their seat, never mind the away end.
Football, eh? Don’t you just love it?
What the managers said…
Brendan Rodgers said: “It was 93 minutes of really good work. We showed good resilience in our defending and the goals we scored were terrific. The second goal was a wonderful goal and we’re in a really good position but to concede the equaliser was disappointing so late but then to concede the late winner is a very, very, very poor goal to concede. It’s really hard to accept not to have taken anything from the game. It was really naive.”
Antonio Conte said: “A great win. We didn’t deserve to lose. The draw would have been unfair. We created many chances and were unlucky in many circumstances. My team showed we don’t want to give up and fight until the end. They have shown me great will and desire not to lose this game. The compliment is for my players, not for me.”
On Bergwijn: “In the past when someone asks me about Steven Bergwijn I was very clear. I said that for me he is an important player because he has characteristics that in our squad we don’t have many creative players.
“He is very good in one vs one, good to beat the man. He can play striker, he can play number 10 and for us, for me, he is an important player and we have to try to improve, to become stronger, not to lose a player and become less strong.
“Steven is a player that if he’s in good physical condition and he has good fitness, he can start the games or he can come in and change the game. For me, I think he’s an important player and you know very well the player has to be happy and I think the player is happy to stay with us and play for Tottenham.”
