BRENNAN LEADS SPURS’ FIGHTBACK AND DOES FOREST HUGE FAVOUR
BRENNAN JOHNSON came off the bench to spark Spurs to victory – and give his old club Nottingham Forest a big boost in their fight for survival.
Injury-hit Luton took a third-minute lead through Tahith Chong and went toe-to-toe with Tottenham with brave man-marking tactics.
But after a bad week for Welsh football when they failed to qualify for Euro 2024, Johnson’s half-time introduction changed the game and condemned compatriot Rob Edwards (below) to a painful defeat.
His low cross was turned into his own net by Issa Kabore before his late assist saw captain Heung-min Son net the 86th-minute winner aided by a big deflection.
It keeps Ange Postecoglou’s side in the hunt for a Champions League place but Luton’s eighth defeat in 10 games saw them slip back into the bottom three below Forest on goal difference.
Forest were hit with a four-point penalty earlier this month for breaching the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules after delaying Johnson’s £47.5milllion summer move.
The Welshman made another payment to Forest by helping to deny Luton a point yesterday – and gave Spurs a needed win to celebrate before Tuesday’s fifth anniversary of the opening of the Tottenham Stadium.
However, Luton’s early goal set the tone of Spurs’ careless first-half display.
Andros Townsend skipped past Yves Bissouma down the right and found Ross Barkley. He picked out Chong who had the time and space to fire in a low shot off the post for his third goal in five games.
Luton have now scored in 18 consecutive league games since November.
Tottenham enjoyed 74 per cent of first-half possession but managed only one shot on target and were booed off at the break.
Timo Werner showed his old Chelsea form by twisting and turning Kabore before stabbing his shot wide and Son spent the rest of the half trying to avoid passing to the hapless German.
Luton also enjoyed their share of luck after 20 minutes when Son hit both posts before a game of pinball in their box saw Werner’s shot blocked by Kabore and Pape Sarr’s follow-up effort cleared off the line by Teden Mengi.
Postecoglou had his choice of players to pull off at the break but chose to replace Dejan Kulusevski with Johnson. Kabore showed Werner how to finish when he smashed his 51stminute cross into his own goal as he got ahead of the winger.
At the other end, Guglielmo Vicario stopped shots from Barkley and sub Jordan Clark but Luton’s high-octane pressing game saw them tire late on.
Alfie Doughty kept the Hatters in the game with a last-ditch goal-line clearance after Thomas Kaminski somehow got a hand to Johnson’s shot from sub Giovani Lo Celso’s cross.
Then Son started a counter-attack from outside his own box.
He found Werner down the left and his cross was cushioned into the South Korean’s path by Johnson and his shot deflected in off sub Daiki Hashioka for his 24th goal of the season.