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Rediff.com  » Sports » EPL PIX: Nine-man Spurs slump to Bournemouth loss; Wolves, West Ham win

EPL PIX: Nine-man Spurs slump to Bournemouth loss; Wolves, West Ham win

Last updated on: May 04, 2019 22:07 IST
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Tottenham Hotspur

IMAGE: Bournemouth's Nathan Ake scores their first goal. Photograph: John Sibley/Reuters

Tottenham Hotspur had two men sent off and failed to make sure of a Premier League top-four finish after slipping to a 1-0 defeat by Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday.

With Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United -- Tottenham's rivals for third and fourth -- not in action until Sunday, a win for Spurs on the south coast would have sealed a top-four finish and qualification for next season's Champions League.

They dominated early on in the sunshine at the Vitality, but found Premier League debutant goalkeeper Mark Travers in inspired form for the hosts as the 19-year-old made a string of fine saves.

 

Tottenham's task was made all the more difficult two minutes before the interval when forward Son Heung-min was sent off for pushing Jefferson Lerma and halftime substitute Juan Foyth lasted 125 seconds before seeing red for a lunging tackle.

Bournemouth struggled to make their numerical advantage count until Nathan Ake climbed highest to meet a corner and head a dramatic winner in the 90th minute.

Spurs, who trail Ajax Amsterdam 1-0 going into their Champions League semi-final second leg on Wednesday, stayed third, two points clear of Chelsea and four ahead of Arsenal with the top-four race set to go to the final day of the season.

"The first 40 minutes we played well and created chances but didn't score," Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino said. "Then we know football can be cruel, they scored in the last minute.

"We need to move on. I will respect the decision of the referee (on the red cards)."

Travers, the first teenage goalkeeper to start a Premier League game since Joe Hart in 2006, produced a string of fine saves to deny Spurs an early goal.

A moment of madness from Son earned him a straight red card for shoving Lerma to the floor right in front of referee Craig Pawson.

Pawson was called into action again as he brandished the red card at Foyth for a dangerous lunge on Jack Simpson.

Spurs, though, looked comfortable in defence before poor marking at a corner allowed Ake to power home a header and send Tottenham to their 13th league defeat of the season.

"It's important to do well against the top teams," Ake said. "I think we want to do this more and it's good we’ve done that today."

Wolves on verge of seventh-placed finish with win over Fulham

EPL

IMAGE: Wolverhampton Wanderers' Leander Dendoncker scores. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Reuters

A Leander Dendoncker volley gave Wolverhampton Wanderers a 1-0 victory over Fulham at Molineux on Saturday to put them on the verge of a seventh-placed finish in the Premier League.

The victory takes Wolves four points clear of Everton in eighth in the standings. If ninth-placed Leicester City do not beat Manchester City on Monday night, the top-flight newcomers will be assured of their highest finish in the Premier League era.

Already-relegated Fulham came into the contest having won their last three games, and frustrated their opponents early on.

Dendoncker came closest to scoring in the first half, but saw his header came out off the crossbar.

Wolves improved after the break and Dendoncker's cushioned volley broke the deadlock with 15 minutes remaining.

A brilliant save from Sergio Rico denied Diogo Jota a second, but Wolves saw out the victory to move a step closer to qualifying for next season's Europa League.

Arnautovic ends drought as West Ham sink Southampton

West Ham

IMAGE: West Ham's Marko Arnautovic scores their second goal. Photograph: Ian Walton/Reuters

Two goals from Marko Arnautovic and Ryan Fredericks's first Premier League strike helped West Ham beat Southampton 3-0 at London Stadium on Saturday to complete their first league double over the Saints since 2001.

Austrian Arnautovic, who had last found the net on Jan. 2, bagged the opener after Yan Valery misdirected a 16th-minute pass to Mark Noble. The midfielder slipped the ball through for Arnautovic, who produced a typically clinical finish past Fraser Forster.

Southampton's keeper was back between the posts for the first time since December, 2017 and will be disappointed with his failure to clear danger ahead of Arnautovic's second on 69 minutes.

Forster only succeeded in punching the ball at the striker who headed home from close range for his fifth goal against the Saints in as many games. Fredericks completed the rout, firing home after a clever one-two with Jack Wilshere three minutes later.

Before the Hammers' second-half goal burst, Southampton had looked the more likely to score, with the lively Nathan Redmond, who had replaced Danny Ings at the interval, forcing a fine save from Lukasz Fabianski.

But the visitors always looked vulnerable to the counter-attack and Arnautovic went close to securing his hat-trick when he curled a late shot wide.

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