DELE HITS THE SPOT TO RESCUE SPURS
BURNLEY 1 SPURS 1: REPORT
DELE ALLI kept his nerve to ensure his under-pressure boss Jose Mourinho didn’t go into meltdown.
Make no mistake, Mourinho and Tottenham were on the ropes, almost punch-drunk and fortunate to go into the interval just 1-0 down.
The Portuguese was heading into unknown territory – on his way to suffering a fifth successive defeat.
The Special One was in danger of becoming what he once cruelly dubbed his great Arsenal foe Arsene
Wenger, “a specialist in failure”. But he pulled a rabbit out of the hat. Well two, actually – sending on Giovani Lo Celso and Lucas Moura, Suddenly there was light at the end of a long tunnel in deepest, darkest Lancashire. Within three minutes, Eric Lamela was brought down in the box. And Alli, mindful of Spurs’ FA Cup exit in their penalty shoot-out against Norwich, wasn’t to be denied.
Spurs might even have won it, with the energetic Lo Celso and Moura both going close.
Burnley boss Sean Dyche will rue a number of missed chances, while Eric Dier, taunted by the home fans for his off-the-field actions in midweek, was a rock at the back once Spurs settled.
Chris Wood fizzed a fierce attempt just over the bar as
Burnley came out all guns blazing, while Jay Rodriguez headed against the bar from an Ashley Westwood corner that had Spurs all at sea.
Hugo Lloris clutched a low drive from Jack Cork, but was culpable as the Clarets took a deserved 13th-minute lead.
Dwight Mcneil jinked down the left and there was a suspicion of handball before he controlled and crossed.
Dier’s attempted headed clearance fell to Rodriguez, lurking on the edge of the area, and his volley carried too much venom for Lloris, who spilled it, and Wood gleefully prodded in from close range.
Cue Mourinho slumping back in his dug-out seat, wondering if any more misfortune could befall
him. And, moments later, it could have got worse as Lamela launched himself at Mcneil and might have seen red instead of a yellow card.
Once again, Mourinho’s attacking options were limited as he initially relied on Alli, pushed up alongside Lamela and Steven Bergwijn.
There was no sympathy from Burnley, who almost scored again just before the break when Wood should have done better after a James Tarkowski knockdown from Westwood’s testing free-kick.
By then, Mourinho had seen enough and he brought on Lo Celso and Moura at the start of the second half in an attempt to spark a reaction.
Within three minutes, his prayers had been answered and his side were level.
Lo Celso was the architect of the recovery with a neat through pass to Lamela, who was brought down just inside the area by Ben
Mee. Up stepped Alli, who had been substituted before the abject shoot-out failure against the Canaries.
The England player maintained his composure to send Nick Pope the wrong way to register his 50th Premier League goal. Suddenly this was a different Spurs, one which was imbued with fresh spirit and capable of asking a few questions of a Burnley side now not having things all their own way.
Lloris, though, still had to be alert to deny substitute Matej Vydra – while Dier did well to block the striker’s clean run on goal.