Tottenham Hotspur suffer their 15th one-goal defeat in the Premier League this season, falling short once again as Nottingham Forest leave north London with a 2-1 victory.
Another league game, more costly errors, and once again, Tottenham pay the price. First-half strikes from Elliot Anderson and Chris Wood were enough to seal it for the visitors, despite a late Richarlison header that gave the hosts hope.
Ange Postecoglou made five changes to the side that started the second leg against Eintracht Frankfurt. Wilson Odobert, Richarlison, Pape Matar Sarr, Dejan Kulusevski, and Djed Spence all returned to the XI. Some fans hoped for a more youthful lineup and a rest for Micky van de Ven, but Ange had other ideas.
Let’s get into the Tottenham 1-2 Nottingham Forest match report.
First half: Tottenham Hotspur 0-2 Nottingham Forest
Confidence was flowing after progressing to the European semi-finals, and that showed early on from Tottenham. However, Forest had the first effort in the 3rd minute when Morgan Gibbs-White tested Guglielmo Vicario from distance.
Inside five minutes, came the sucker punch. A half-cleared Forest corner was flicked by Dominguez to Anderson, whose half-volley took a heavy deflection off Rodrigo Bentancur and flew past Guglielmo Vicario. 0-1
Just minutes later, Chris Wood thought he had doubled the lead as he volleyed in from an Anderson cross, having ghosted past Van de Ven. But the new VAR system intervened and ruled him offside by a shoulder.
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Forest didn’t need to wait long for a second, though. From a well-worked free-kick, Anthony Elanga sent in a cross which tempted Vicario off his line, but the Italian misjudged it completely. Wood rose ahead of him and nodded into an open net. 0-2.
Despite the deficit, both Tottenham wingers looked lively. Wilson Odobert first troubled Sels with a sharp low effort, followed by another from 20 yards out that the Belgian parried away.
Mathys Tel sent in several dangerous balls from the left and later missed a good headed chance set up by Pedro Porro. Kulusevski also had a go from outside the box but could only hit it straight at the keeper.
Odobert then made a surging run down the right, cutting the ball across the face of goal, but there wasn’t Brennan Johnson to tap it home at the far post.
Tel had another golden chance from a loose Williams clearance but dragged his first-time effort wayward.
Odobert then once again delivered a cross to the back post, with both Sarr and Richarlison unmarked and Sels stranded, but somehow they got in each other’s way, and the chance was gone. Not long after, Richarlison’s another header bounced inches wide.
Half-time came with Spurs trailing 2-0. Despite an xG advantage of 1.34 to Forest’s 0.33.
Second half: Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Nottingham Forest
Ange stuck to a pre-planned change, bringing on Ben Davies and Kevin Danso for Romero and Van de Ven.
The second half started brightly again for Spurs. Tel burst through the left after linking with Spence, but lost the ball just as he was about to shoot.
Danso quickly filled in Romero’s boots and showed almost no difference in his direct forward passes. One such ball found Pape Sarr in the box, but his touch let him down. Sarr later tried a Giroud-Esque scorpion kick from a Porro cross but missed the target.
Forest’s only clear chance of the half came when Wood set up Gibbs-White on a counter, but he fired wide with just Vicario to beat.
Then came a flurry of chances and it was all Tottenham. Kulusevski’s header from a Porro corner was inch-perfect and had Sels beaten, only for Toffolo to clear it off the line acrobatically.
Moments later, Richarlison found himself 1v1 after a poor Forest clearance fell his way, but Sels closed him down superbly.
Even Danso let one fly from range but was just wide. With 10 minutes to go, Richarlison then rose for yet another Porro cross. Despite his header connecting incredibly well, Sels was somehow better, clawing it away full stretched.
Forest players themselves then, tried helping Tottenham after their struggles upfront. Johnson’s low cross left Williams with no other option but to almost turn the ball into his own net.
It took a good 87 minutes of building up pressure for it to finally pay off. Porro once again picked out Richarlison, and this time, the Brazilian made no mistake, heading in at the far post. 2-1.
In the dying moments, Tel had a shot blocked before Ben Davies unleashed a thunderbolt from distance; one that might’ve broken the net if it hadn’t flown over.
Despite five minutes of stoppage time and some gamesmanship from Forest, Spurs couldn’t find the equaliser.
FT: Spurs 1-2 Nottingham Forest
What’s next for Spurs?
It was a really good footballing performance from Spurs when you consider the build-up against a deep and stubborn Forest setup. If you look back at some of Spurs’ previous games against sides that play a low block, they often looked completely clueless in possession. In some cases, they couldn’t even create a single chance or register a shot on target.
It would be unfair to pin this one on Ange; the goals conceded were unfortunate or due to individual errors, and Matz Sels played for his life. On another day, a few of those chances go in, and Spurs are walking away with three points.
Special mention to Pedro Porro. Seven chances created on his 100th appearance. From positioning to his pace and, of course, his endless stream of pinpoint crosses. Had it not been for the wastefulness upfront, he’d have had 3 or 4 assists.
We predicted a 2-1 scoreline but got the teams wrong. At least we got Richarlison and Chris Wood as scorers right.
The result leaves Spurs 16th in the league with 18 losses. They could’ve jumped to 13th with a win.
Next up: Liverpool away at Anfield on Sunday. (Gulp)