Tottenham leave it late to hit back after shock bite from Wolves

On the menu tonight : Picture by @YTJourno

Premier League

Tottenham Hotspur (0) 1 Palhinha 90+4

Wolverhampton Wanderers (0) 1 Santiago Bueno 54

On a day full of Premier League shocks, Spurs almost succumbed to one themselves after a dismal second half display to frustrate an expectant Saturday night crowd.

It needed a a fine strike from the edge of the box from Joao Palhinha to rescue a game which got away from them after a promising first half.

It was all set up for Spurs to claim a win that would lift them up to second in the table, but they very nearly slipped to a defeat against a Wolves side who had lost their opening five games, arriving at the TH Stadium at rock bottom.

The visitors' greater appetite after taking the lead early in the second half put Thomas Frank's men to shame and they were mightily unlucky not to claim a first win of the season.

The first half wasn't so bad for the hosts. Forced to kick towards their vertiginous South Stand in the first half - contrary to their preference to save it for the second half - Spurs thought they had breached the Wolves defence when Mo Kudus headed a Xavi Simons cross goalwards from point-blank range - only for keeper Sam Johnstone to throw up an arm for a superb reflex save by pushing the ball onto the crossbar.

Kudus also had the ball in the net from a Lucas Bergvall backheel but was miles offside.

For all their possession and corners, chances did not exactly flow, with the xG remaining modestly restrained at 0.68, but it still looked like a goal would soon come. Bergvall volleyed acrobatically over the bar, while the lively Kudus stung Johnstone's palms with a powerful shot from a corner of the area. Richarlison could not quite reach a deflected Kudus cross when the merest touch would have resulted in a goal.

Matt Doherty struck the outside of a post at the other end but most of the action was at the Wolves end until the start of the second half when Wolves took that unexpected lead.

A Jhon Arias corner was headed goalwards and although Guglielmo Vicario was able to palm away, the ball bounced back off team-mate Palhinha for Santiago Bueno to stab home from close range.

Having not managed to turn around any of the last 16 Premier League games in which they trailed, the pressure was on.

Vicario's legs were needed to keep out a stinging drive on the overlap from Hugo Bueno and as the frustration mounted, Spurs resorted to increasingly desperate shots from way out which troubled no one.

An away win looked imminent but Pape Sarr laid off a cross for former Fulham man Palhinha to save the day.

Spurs: (4-3-3) Vicario - Spence (Porro 63), Romero, van de Ven, Udogie (Tel 84) - Bergvall (Sarr 78), Joao Palhinha, Bentancur (Johnson 63) - Kudus, Richarlison, Simons (Odobert 78)

Wolves: (3-4-2-1) Johnstone - Doherty (Agbadou h/t), Krejci, Santiago Bueno - Munetsi, Andre, Joao Gomes (Bellegarde 63), Hugo Bueno - Arias (Toti 90), Hwang Hee-Chan (Tchatchou h/t) - Strand Larsen (Arokadare 84)

Attendance: 60,537