Premier League

TOTTENHAM 3 (Udogie 48, Johnson 49, Richarlison 56)
BRENTFORD 2 (Maupay 15, Toney 67)

AN eight-minute lightning blitz dragged Tottenham into the top-four tonight (Wednesday) when three quick second half goals overturned a Brentford lead.

Destiny Udogie drew Spurs level on 48 minutes after Neal Maupay had given the visitors the edge, and was quickly followed by a Brennan Johnson finish as Ange Postecoglou’s side turned the game around.

Richarlison made it 3-1 just before the hour mark, before a nervy finish was set-up by Ivan Toney pulling a goal back with 20 minutes remaining.

Speaking after the five-goal thriller that saw the good, the bad and the ugly side of Postecoglou’s Spurs side, the manager berated his players for letting Brentford outwit them psychologically in the first period.

“We spent more time talking to the referee then playing the game in the first half,” said Postecoglou, who made two telling half-time changes to get his team back into it. “We started well and had some good intensity and tempo.

“They scored, and we lost our way. We lost our focus. We were frustrated and there was too much stop and start. It played into their hands.”

A half-time talking too – and swapping Oliver Skipp and Rodrigo Bentancur for Johnson and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg – saw Tottenham come out with a different attitude.

“In the second half we were outstanding for 25 minutes,” Postecoglou added. “I felt we needed to get back to concentrating on what is important to us – not arguing with the referee and doing things that would not help us achieve our objective.”

The Tottenham boss said his players squaring up to their opponents did not impress him. He added: “I don’t like the pushing about stuff. I’m not into that. Put them in a UFC cage and let them do it, but here we are here to play football and not get sucked in.”

Tottenham started well, and an early chance saw Skipp spin in the box and shoot – it was blocked and then Dejan Kulusevski made inroads off a well-worked Spurs break from the back. It was measured stuff, yet done at pace. Tottenham were full of ambition.

But it went badly wrong on 15 minutes when a midfield muddle involving Udogie and Bentancur saw the ball squeeze away, and Brentford’s Maupay bundle home after Guglielmo Vicario saved a smash-hit shot from Toney.

It had been coming, in a way. The home side were attacking with gusto but Brentford had carved out two opportunities, and had the ball in the back of the net – deemed to be offside – before they took the lead. It gave the visitors what they needed – something to defend and fight for.

Spurs turned the screw on 20. A wonderful run by Bentancur took him deep into the Bees’ box, and his cut back for Timo Werner saw the winger skid a shot goalwards that Mark Flekken had to reach to tip round the post. Then Richarlison was an inch off scoring a worldie on 24 when he struck a curling first-time effort from distance that skimmed the post.

But Brentford defended their lead well and set off a series of running battles across the pitch. It gave the game a sour mood. They were happy to take their time and tackles were solid, with afters also on the menu.

Tottenham came out after the break a different side, with a dash of Postecoglou rejuvenation ringing in their ears.

Udogie burst and bustled forward, played a one-two off his marker and smashed home. One minute later and substitute Johnson put Tottenham ahead. Werner got in space and his ball across the face of the goal was easy enough for Johnson to finish gleefully.

The third was top quality: Hojbjerg got the move going centrally, moved forward with Udogie and when James Maddison’s shot was blocked, Richarlison was on hand.

Toney showed Brentford what they missed when he was banned for eight-months with a bustling performance capped off with a goal after an error by the otherwise brilliant Udogie. But Spurs had the character to see it out – and are now in the top-four.

Tottenham: Vicario, Porro, Romero, van de Ven, Udogie, Bentancur (Johnson, 45), Skipp (Hojbjerg, 45), Kulusevski, Maddison (Dragusin, 86), Werner (Donley, 90+2), Richarlison
Substitutes not used: Forster, Gil, Royal, Davies, Scarlett

Brentford: Flekken, Collins (Ajer, 77), Pinnock, Mee, Roerslev (Dasilva, 77), Jensen (Yarmoliuk, 57), Norgaard, Janelt (Baptiste, 87), Lewis-Potter (Damsgaard, 87), Maupay, Toney
Substitutes not used: Strakosha, Jorgensen, Brierley, Frederick