Wolverhampton Wanderers stunned Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 with stoppage-time goals from Pablo Sarabia and Mario Lemina on Saturday, preventing the visitors from returning to the top of the Premier League table.
In a thrilling match filled with twists and turns, Wolves emerged victorious thanks to their late heroics.
Gary O’Neil’s decision to bring on Sarabia as a late substitute proved to be a stroke of genius, as the Spaniard scored the equalizer in the 91st minute and provided the assist for the 97th-minute winner.
Lemina, who scored the winning goal, expressed his delight after the match, saying, “It is an amazing feeling, we’ve been pushing so hard. We deserve this game.”
“We had the best tactics to play against them, and we showed it today. I scored the winner, and I’m really happy.”
Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou was forced to field a makeshift back four due to injuries and suspensions, but his team took an early lead through Brennan Johnson’s tap-in after just three minutes.
The first half was an end-to-end affair, but Wolves lacked the final touch in front of goal. They had a chance to equalize just after the half-hour mark when Lemina forced a fine save from Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.
Wolves upped the pressure in the second half and looked more likely to score. Hwang Hee-Chan and Sasa Kalajdzic both saw efforts go wide as Spurs clung to their lead.
Just when it looked like the match was heading for a draw, Sarabia popped up in the 91st minute to equalize with a volley from an angle.
With the momentum on their side, Wolves poured forward in search of a winner. And their persistence paid off in the 97th minute, when Lemina raced onto Sarabia’s pass and slotted the ball home to spark wild celebrations at Molineux.
Postecoglou admitted that his team’s fitness levels played a role in their late collapse. “It is always a tough game here. Wolves are always going to come on strong and we ran out of legs at the end,” he said.
“It is understandable, a lot of those guys haven’t played. They scored a couple of good goals, a hard one to take.”
The victory was a huge boost for Wolves, who moved up to 12th in the Premier League table. For Spurs, it was a bitter pill to swallow as they missed the chance to reclaim top spot.
