Wolves made it three Premier League defeats on the spin for Tottenham after two first-half goals punished Antonio Conte’s sloppy side in a 2-0 win.
In a game where Tottenham fans defied a plea from the club by continuing to chant the Y-word, their side fell behind on six minutes where a calamity spell of goalkeeping from Hugo Lloris allowed Raul Jimenez to volley home in splendid fashion. Spurs were totally culpable in their own downfall and could not have been any more generous in helping Wolves to a two-goal lead.
Things got significantly worse in the Tottenham backline when a poor pass out by Ben Davies started a Wolves attack and after Daniel Podence’s effort came back off the post Leandro Dendoncker was on hand to double the lead.
Conte, who has lost three games in a row for the first time since 2009, decided to change Ryan Sessegnon with Dejan Kulusevski after 27 minutes but Spurs remained flat and lacking in ideas against the Wolves defence that has now kept nine clean sheets this season.
Spurs did improve after the break but despite posting 17 shots on goal – eight of them from Harry Kane – Jose Sa was relatively comfortable at dealing with what was thrown at him. Harry Winks’ had a deflected effort crash into the post, but this was another disappointing day for the hosts.
The win moves Wolves into seventh place, above Tottenham.
Are Wolves genuine top four contenders?
With top four contenders falling over themselves in slapstick fashion, consistency could be key in the race for Champions League qualification. Wolves may lack the individual quality of the likes of Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United but they make up for that in terms of team cohesion and a desire for defending. They are just three points off United in fifth.
Wolves’ standout strength has been their watertight defence. Their 17 goals conceded is bettered only by Manchester City this season and no other side in the division has conceded fewer goals from open play than Wolves’ 10 to date. Spurs managed 17 shots but only produced an expected goals figure of 1.07 – pointing to lots of low probability chances due to some excellent defending from Wolves in their box. All successful teams need a top goalkeeper, and Wolves’ Sa has been one of the bargains of the season – the £6.8m buy from Olympiakos last summer has the best save percentage in the Premier League this season.
Man of the match: Max Kilman
To single out one Wolves player is a little unfair on the back of what was a complete team performance, but the assurance and quality of Kilman’s play stood out yet again. Confident on the ball to drive forward and adept at being in the right place at the right time to snuff out danger, he managed to keep a lid on Heung-min Son, who had a rare off day across all aspects of his game.
Kilman’s standout moment came midway through the second half when out of nowhere the Wolves defender prevented Kane testing Sa from close range. It was an impressive piece of defending and summed up his performance. Special mentions have to go out to Daniel Podence and Sa, who were both outstanding too.
