Tottenham 1 Wolves 2: Joao Gomes scores twice to stun Spurs as they suffer huge blow in race for Champions League
WHATEVER Pedro Neto was worth before this, stick another £10million on it.
Because those talented, jet-heeled feet of his are among the most valuable going in the Premier League right now.
Joao Gomes made that exact point with the celebration for his Neto-inspired match-winner, kissing the boot of his Portuguese team-mate after firing into the net.
Tottenham are among Neto’s many admirers ahead of the summer window and boy, how they could have done with a player like him on Saturday.
Though it was Gomes who was Wolves’ hero when it came to sticking the ball in the onion bag, netting twice either side of a Dejan Kulusevski strike.
The Brazilian’s routine for his first goal, an excellent header, was decent too as he put the ball up his top to show he and his partner are expecting.
His goals and Neto’s magic ensured Spurs slipped out of the top four – and earned Wolves back-to-back wins over the North Londoners for the first time in 14 years.
And with James Maddison misfiring and injuries once again causing issues – particularly at full-back – suddenly Ange Postecoglou’s side are not looking so free-flowing.
Both teams welcomed back their South Korean stars, fresh off their ping-pong ding-dong that SunSport exclusively revealed this week.
Tottenham skipper Son Heung-min dislocated his finger in the bust-up with younger team-mates who wanted to leave a team dinner at the Asia Cup to play table-tennis.
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Hwang Hee-Chan, also part of Jurgen Klinsmann’s squad who crashed out at the semis in Qatar, was back leading the line for Wolves in the absence of injured Matheus Cunha.
And it was Hwang who had the game’s first great chance, blazing a rebound over after Nelson Semedo had his shot smartly stopped.
Gary O’Neil had his side typically well-drilled tactically but they also carried a threat up top, particularly through livewire Neto.
Micky van de Ven was having to be at his jet-heeled best to stop the Wolves attack from breaking through on several occasions – while Spurs looked sluggish.
Then, with two minutes to go to the break, Wolves grabbed a deserved opener from an unlikely source.
Gomes had not netted all season – in fact the 23-year-old only had two professional goals his whole career before yesterday.
That tally doubled here though, with the Brazilian’s first coming from a corner.
Pablo Sarabia sent in a decent-ish delivery and bizarrely, Gomes was left completely unmarked, using all of his 5ft9in frame to leap into the air and head into the far corner.
He celebrated like the Samba boys of old, putting the ball up his shirt to show how he and his partner have a baby on the way.
It was the third home game in a row that Spurs have conceded first, and it could have been worse had Sarabia’s curling effort drifted the right side of the post deep into stoppage time.
Kulusevski told SunSport yesterday how Postecoglou has the capacity to “get angry, for sure” and you sensed the Aussie may have lit a rocket at half-time.
Particularly given how his side were repeating the same slow start that they had shown against Brentford and Brighton.
And just like those games, which Spurs ended up winning, his team came out looking hungrier after the break.
It took just 35 seconds for the hosts to draw level thanks to Kulusevski.
The Swede took the ball just to the right of the six-yard box, weaved past Craig Dawson and nutmegged Jose Sa from a tight angle.
Many in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – including prospective new Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner, on a fact-finding mission in the crowd – would have expected Spurs to go on and win like they did in their last few home games.
But O’Neil has a good record against Spurs, winning at home earlier this season and away here with Bournemouth last year, and his team are made of stern stuff.
They could have retaken the lead on 56 minutes when Semedo found Sarabia with a pinpoint cross but the Spaniard was denied by Guglielmo Vicario’s expert reflexes.
Spurs were sorely lacking their creative full-backs Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie, both out injured, and were struggling to come up with ideas to pick the lock.
They would have been hoping the corner they won just after the hour may have opened the door a different way – but it ended in disaster.
Wolves cleared Maddison’s set-piece and then when Yves Bissouma failed to intervene, Gomes sparked a blistering counter-attack by releasing Neto.
The Portuguese put on the after-burners and raced down the pitch and into the Spurs area, having the wherewithal to turn, hold off Emerson Royal and pick out Gomes.
Grateful midfielder Gomes gleefully tucked the ball away before kissing Neto’s boot in celebration.
Postecoglou rang the changes yet nothing worked.
Though Ben Davies really should have levelled in injury time but got his close-range header all wrong.
It stunted Spurs’ progress but further boosted the burgeoning reputations of O’Neil, his Wolves side and, of course, the in-demand Neto.
Check out how the action unfolded via our live blog below…