Tottenham Hotspurs suffered a second-half collapse in their last home game of the season as Brentford came from behind to win 3-1. Harry Kane gave Spurs the lead inside the six minutes from a stunning free-kick but wasted a ton of opportunities in the period and got punished for it after the break. In the absence of Ivan Toney, Bryan Mbeumo scored twice inside 12 minutes to leave the home side stunned before Yoane Wissa sealed the victory at the death. Ryan Mason’s side dropped from the European places to seventh while Brentford are just a point away from one heading into one ahead of the final match day of the season.
Mason made four changes from the defeat against Aston Villa with Arnaut Danjuma, Yves Bissouma, Davinson Sanchez and Dejan Kulusevski coming in with two forces as Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Christian Romero were not in the squad due to injuries. Bissouma earned his first Premier League start since New Year's Day after a long injury layoff while it was the first-ever for Danjuma who joined the club on loan from Villarreal in the winter window. Brentford started without Ivan Toney again for his eight-month ban imposed by FA from playing with only Frank Onyeka replacing Mikel Damsgaard in the eleven that started the win against West Ham last weekend.
It seemed to have made a positive impact on Spurs as they took an early lead after a sumptuous free-kick by Harry Kane set up by Dejan Kulusevski with a neat back-heel. It had shades of Trent-Alexander Arnold’s free-kick against Leicester last weekend. Tottenham did not hold back pushing for the second with Heung-Min Son’s shot saved by David Raya and Emerson Royal’s towering header from the South Korean’s cross blocked on the line by Rico Henry. Danjuma also placed his free header right in front of goal wide at the stroke of half-time.
Brentford produced a 360-degree different performance in the second half and after not managing a shot on target till now, Bryan Mbeumo scored in the first five minutes after the restart from Yoane Wissa’s pass. The Cameroon International then completed the turnaround racing into the box and finishing in the same far corner. The forward returned the favor for Wissa to score the third after Oliver Skipp was robbed close to the box. David Raya also performed his duties superbly keeping out Richarlison twice in quick succession as Tottenham’s late show did not bear any fruit.
Spurs will now travel to relegation-threatened Leeds on the final day who need a massive favour from Aston Villa and Brighton to stay in contention from Europe. On the other hand, Brentford will take on champions-elect Manchester City in the final game of the season at home with seemingly little left to play for the opposition by then.
Stats and Records
First loss
This is the first defeat for Tottenham Hotspurs in the hands of Brentford since March 1948 which was a 2-0 loss. It ended a 14 consecutive unbeaten run for the side in this fixture. This was also the first time Spurs have gone on to lose a Premier League game after leading at half-time since April 2021, a 3-1 loss against Manchester United.
Overtaken
Brentford have picked up 14 victories this season, a win more than the overall tally last season with a game still to play. This is their most wins recorded in a top-flight campaign since the 1938-39 season. They have also scored 57 goals, nine more than they managed in the previous campaign.
14
Tottenham have suffered their 14th defeat of the campaign, the second worst since the 2008-09 season (15). Additionally, they have conceded 62 goals which is more than any other Premier League campaign in their history.
25
Harry Kane became the first Premier League player to score in 25 different matches across a 38-game season. He is also the second player after Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink since 2001-02 to score 10
London derby goals in a single Premier League campaign.
7
However, not all record was rosy for the Spurs’ number nine as it was the seventh time Kane found himself on the losing side in a game he has scored this season in the Premier League. Only Jamie Vardy of Leicester City in 2017-18 has been on the losing side more than him with nine while scoring.
