Tottenham Hotspur survived a late scare to maintain their unbeaten run under new manager Jose Mourinho as the North Londoners romped home to a 3-2 victory over Bournemouth at home in the Premier League on Saturday.
The Lilywhites looked set for a rather comfortable victory with a three-goal cushion heading into the last quarter of the game but a late brace from Liverpool loanee Harry Wilson spoiled what was largely an excellent all-round display from Mourinho’s side.
Dele Alli continued his dream resurrection under the Portuguese tactician with goals on either side of the halfway mark while Moussa Sissoko also got his name on the scoresheet for the Lilywhites.
Spurs climbed up to 5th in the Premier League standings with their second consecutive league victory under Mourinho, having edged West Ham 3-2 in a five-goal thriller last weekend.
It was Bournemouth, though, who started the game on the front foot, with Arnaut Danjuma Groeneveld and Diego Rico both calling Paulo Gazzaniga into action with powerful efforts from range inside the first ten minutes.
However, Tottenham settled down gradually and came close to opening the scoring when Heung-min Son almost capped off a brilliant counter-attacking move after being played clear of the Cherries backline by Harry Kane.
Son narrowly missed the mark from a tight angle but it wasn’t long before the hosts got their noses in front. Toby Alderweireld’s pinpoint long ball was met by a diagonal run from Son, who laid it on for Alli to make it 1-0 at the 21st-minute mark.
Kane had a good opportunity to double the advantage for Tottenham shortly after following some delicious link-up with play with Son down the left-hand side of the pitch, only for Aaron Ramsdale to deny the England captain with a sharp stop at his near post.
Davinson Sanchez had a goal ruled out for offside, with VAR replays confirming that the ball had ricochetted off the Colombian’s arm in the build-up to the goal.
Tottenham continued to dictate the proceedings in the second half and it was once again a long ball from Alderweireld that did the trick. Alli skipped past Jack Stacey and Steve Cook to put the ball into the back of the net with a lovely dinked finish to make it 2-0 just five minutes after the restart.
Alli had a chance to complete his hat-trick soon after but he failed to keep his shot down from inside the box following some lovely build-up play from the right flank.
Moussa Sissoko scored his first Premier League goal of the season with an acrobatic finish to make it 3-0 for Spurs at the 69th-minute mark, with Son finally claiming an assist to show for all his efforts.
The game looked done and dusted before Harry Wilson pulled one back for the Cherries with an absolute stonker of a free-kick before making it 3-2 for the visitors in the sixth minute of injury-time.
Callum Wilson nearly grabbed a dramatic last-gasp equaliser for Eddie Howe’s side but, in the end, Tottenham did just enough to sail home safely with three valuable points.
Up next for the Lilywhites is a trip to Old Trafford to face Man United on Wednesday night.
The fans seemed happy with the 3-2 victory over Bournemouth, although some acknowledged the need to shore up the defence. Here’s how some of the fans reacted on Twitter:-
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