Tottenham Barely Dodge an Opportune Wolves' Rally

Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs were flat-out lucky in Wolverhampton this weekend.

There they were, fat and sassy after amassing a three-goal lead with a cohort of their biggest names on the bench or -- in the case of Dele Alli -- not even making the trip to the West Midlands.

Counting the Champions League tie against PSV Eindhoven, Tottenham's looking at four matches in nine days, so Pochettino saw this match against Wolves as an opportunity to rest the likes of Christian Eriksen, Son Heung-min, and Davinson Sánchez.

Respite was fleeting, though. All three wound up making an appearance as Spurs hung on to claim a 2-3 victory.

 

In Son's case, the call came quickly.

Mousa Dembélé turned his ankle -- at least, they hope that's all it is -- in only the seventh minute, so the South Korean for a run until Eriksen shifted in for him on the hour.

Sánchez ultimately subbed in for Lucas Moura in the 79th minute, which pretty much put paid to the trio's R&R.

 

As to the game's timeline, there weren't any relevant chances until the 20-minute mark. Wolves even looked likely to be the ones who'd break the deadlock, but Erik Lamela had another plan.

The Argentine himself was the architect of the play.

In a solid duo with Son, dude found himself face-to-face witht Portuguese 'keeper Rui Patricio and slotted home with the ultimate nutmeg:

 

The home side seemed to still be processing what just happened when, as only three minutes later, Spurs doubled the lead.

Kieran Trippier drove forward down the right wing and found a completely open Moura with a perfect cross. The Brazilian only needed to nod it in on the far post and proceeded to celebrate with his teammates:

 

 

Yup.

Fast forwarding to the second half, Harry Kane made his presence felt.

At the 61st, the English striker had two chances against Patricio to score his goal and, apparently, wrap the game up:

 

But as they say in the Western world ...

Yeah, right.

 

In the 68th minute, Wolves were awarded a Penalty after Juan Foyth fouled Raúl Jiménez inside the box.

Portuguese international Rúben Neves was the one who stepped up and delivered:

 

Soon thereafter, history was made.

Dubious history, maybe, but history nonetheless.

In the 79th, Foyth became the first Premiership player in two years to get rung up for two penalties in one game. In a debut to forget, the 21-year-old brought down Jonny Castro inside the area. Jiménez was the chosen one and sent Hugo Lloris the wrong way:

 

Pochettino stood by his young defender, but he was surely hoping the kid would keep his legs beneath him for the remainder of the match.

Foyth did, and Tottenham got outta Dodge more worse for the wear than they had hoped but still three-points richer.