Tottenham Hotspur 2 – 1 Sheffield United Premier League Match Review

Late comeback sees Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs seal all three points in second-half stoppage time.

Tottenham came face to face with newly promoted Sheffield United at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, with the home team looking for a fourth Premier League win in five matches to start the 2023/24 season. The Lilywhites did exactly that, spectacularly winning the game with two goals in second-half stoppage time, sealing a 2-1 comeback win against the Blades.

Ahead of their match against Paul Heckingbottom’s side, Spurs Head Coach Ange Postecoglou had led his side to a fantastic start to the campaign. It started with an entertaining 2 – 2 draw away from home against Brentford at the GTech Community Stadium, where Cristian Romero (11’) and Emerson Royal scored for the away team (45+4’).

Manchester United were their opponents in Spurs’ first home match on week two of the new Premier League season. It ended up being a comfortable 2-0 victory for the home side in what was a statement win for Postecoglou’s side, with the Red Devils likely to be one of their rivals for European football. Pape Matar Sarr (49’) and an own goal from central defender Lisandro Martinez sealed the win for the Lilywhites (83’).

A trip to the South Coast saw Spurs face AFC Bournemouth in their third match of the campaign. It ended up being another 2-0 victory against Andoni Iraola’s side, with summer signing James Maddison (17’) and Dejan Kulusevski finding the back of the net to seal the victory (63’).

Following disappointment in the Carabao Cup against Fulham, Spurs recorded their third win of the new Premier League season in emphatic fashion, beating Vincent Kompany’s Burnley 5-2 at Turf Moor. Cristian Romero (45+2’), James Maddison (54’) and a Son Heung-Min hat-trick (16’, 63’, 66’) sealed the points for the North London side.

Now, onto their latest match against Sheffield United. Spurs’ Pape Matar Sarr had the first chance, forcing a save from Blades Goalkeeper Wes Foderingham from distance (9’). Oli McBurnie had the visitors’ first chance of the game moments later, but his shot was blocked well (11’).

Several chances then came in less than 5 minutes. Sarr’s header forced another save from Foderingham (17’) before Romero had a header of his own fly just over the top of the crossbar (18’).

The in-form Yves Bissouma forced a save from close range (19’) before another long-range effort, this time from Son Heung-Min, forced a save from Wes Foderingham (21’).

Spurs had some further chances in the remainder of the first half. Maddison forced a stunning save from United’s ‘keeper with just over ten minutes to go until halftime (34’). This was followed by two shots on goal from Dejan Kulusevski being blocked well by the Blades’ defence (42’, 45+1’). McBurnie then forced a save from Guglielmo Vicario moments later (45+4’).

Throughout the opening minutes of the second half, both sides had chances – however, no effort had found the back of the net. This was until Gustavo Hamer found the bottom right corner from close range to give Sheffield United a surprise lead with less than twenty minutes of the match remaining (73’).

Spurs had work to do if they wanted to salvage a draw and potentially have time to win the game, and as stoppage time approached, this comeback was looking less likely. As we know, football has a habit of being unpredictable. Richarlison got his first goal of the new season with a header to restore parity deep into stoppage time (90+4’).

This was the equaliser, but few were expecting there to be enough time for Tottenham to find the winning goal. Kulusevski scored the winning goal in stunning fashion with just seconds of second-half stoppage time remaining to the joy and relief of those of a Spurs persuasion. The Sweden international found the top left corner after receiving the ball from Richarlison in the box (90+10’). This is the latest winning goal in the Premier League’s history, beating the previous record held by Bruno Fernandes since September 2020 by a margin of just 8 seconds.

This was enthralling drama, something that the Premier League is famous for, it saw Spurs win all three points, and they now find themselves in 2nd place with 13 points after 5 matches. Ange Postecoglou’s side are only 2 points adrift of league leaders and reigning Champions Manchester City. This is Tottenham’s best start to a league season for 58 years.

Tottenham dominated possession with 70.1% compared to Sheffield United’s 29.9%. The home side also had no less than 10 shots on target, with the Blades having 5 of their own throughout the game.

Following the match, Spurs Head Coach Ange Postecoglou said (via Tottenham Hotspur’s Official Website): “There was a fair bit going on today! It’s great. You want to see all aspects of our team developing and today was as much about the character as the football.

“It was great to see the players react. It was a difficult game. There just seemed to be a lot of dead time, a lot of stoppages, no great flow. For the most part we handled it okay. There were times when we got frustrated.

“It’s something that we’re going to have to cope with but, particularly after we went 1-0 down, I really liked the way the boys went about it. We stayed calm, clear-headed and worked our way into the game in a really good way considering all the chaos that was happening.”

Next up, Spurs play Arsenal in the North London Derby at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday. The next game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will see Spurs face Liverpool on Saturday 30th September.

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