More home woes for Spurs as Wolves show the greater bite

Tottenham (0) 0

Wolves (2) 2 Jimenez 7, Dendoncker 18

Spurs suffered a second home defeat in a matter of days – failing to recover from shipping two goals in the opening quarter.

They were swamped in midfield by an impressive Wolves side during an abject first half which ended with the players being booed off by some of the frustrated home fans.

There would be more at full-time as their team failed to find a way back.

This is a match that skipper Hugo Lloris will not look back on too fondly. He was at fault for the first goal and played a part in the second which gave Antonio Conte’s men an uphill battle.

Spurs were stunned after just six minutes with a goal which owed much to two sloppy defensive parries from the keeper.

He got well behind the first effort from Ruben Neves but could only palm the ball back into danger. He did the same from the rebound, flapping at a mishit from Leander Dendoncker. But he could get nowhere near the third strike from Jimenez.

There might have been a quick response. Rodrigo Bentancur – making his first start – played a nice ball through for Heung-Min Son to scamper onto, but the South Korean made a hash of the chance after a ponderous check back and switch to his left boot. And moments later it was 2-0.

Lloris played Ben Davies into trouble with a pass to his left which gave the defender no real room for manoeuvre and his attempted clearance invited a strike from Daniel Podence, which clipped off Bentancur and onto a post before Dendoncker followed up to bury it.

It was almost 3-0 too, when Jimenez had a ping from just outside the box. Lloris looked none too sure of himself with another block which might have rebounded anywhere.

Such was his obvious malaise that there were ironic cheers from home fans when the Spurs skipper collected a routine, overhit high ball.

Wolves were overrunning the Whites in midfield and with the game not half an hour old, Conte sent on Dejan Kulusevski in place of the luckless Ryan Sessegnon.

There was no discernable difference. Harry Winks was struggling and after he had coughed up possession to set up another Wolves attack, Podence rifled low and Lloris made a smart low save.

Spurs showed much more urgency after the break and Harry Kane – who ended the first half with a header at goal – fired a free-kick at Jose Sa. But Wolves came close to closing the door when Jimenez was worked into space, and it needed a fine block from Lloris.

Son found Kane in the inside left channel and it needed Sa’s left leg to deny the England striker. Another chance came when a Winks drive was deflected off a Wolves player onto an upright.

There were a couple more half-chances. Kulusevski planted a shot inches wide from 18 yards, with Sa nowhere near and Cristian Romero’s header from a cross needed to be helped over the bar by the keeper’s arm. But in truth, Wanderers were comfortable. And fully deserving of their win.

Spurs: (3-4-3) Lloris – Romero, D Sanchez, Davies – Doherty (Emerson Royal 82), Winks, Bentancur, R Sessegnon (Kulusevski 28) – Lucas Moura (Bergwijn 71), Kane, Son. Subs not used: Gollini, Reguilon, Hojbjerg, Rodon, White, Scarlett

Wolves: (3-5-2) Sa – Kilman, Coady, Saiss – Semedo, Dendoncker, Neves, Cundle (Trincao 84), Ait-Nouri – Jiminez (Silva 86), Podence (Hwang 81). Subs not used: Ruddy, Hoever, Marcal, Otto, Chiquinho, Toti

Attendance: 56,452