Tottenham moved into the top four with a timely 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium which was not as straightforward as the result might suggest.
Spurs took the lead when Forest centre-half Murillo turned Timo Werner’s testing cross in to his own net on 15 minutes. But the visitors drew level against the run of play when Chris Wood grabbed his 12th league goal of the campaign.
The hosts found goals from unlikely sources after the interval though, with Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro blasting strikes beyond Matz Sels to take the game away from the visitors.
Victory saw Spurs capitalise on fellow top four-chasers Aston Villa and Manchester United dropping points this weekend, while Forest hover perilously above the relegation zone on goal difference.
Story of the match
“There are no easy games for anyone,” Ange Postecoglou said of the final weeks of the season. “Everyone’s fighting for something.”
That is certainly the case for his Tottenham side whose run-in is played amid the frenzied ache for Champions League football. Meanwhile Forest are battling the prospect of relegation, with legal representatives appealing a four-point deduction for breaching Profitability and Sustainability Rules.
With so much at stake, neither manager felt compelled to depart from their most recent scripts: Pape Matar Sarr’s return from a midweek breather the sole change across the 22 starters.
There had been concerns for in-form Brennan Johnson’s fitness following a knock picked up against West Ham, but the forward was deemed healthy enough to face his former side.
Also reacquainting himself with his ex-employers was Nuno Espírito Santo,, who was returning to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the first time since his four-month sojourn as boss there came to an abrupt ending.
As is often the way when Tottenham play at home the battle lines were drawn early. Spurs camped out in their opponents’ half with Forest sending occasional probes into the channels.
Perhaps it was the predictability of the opening stages that inspired Murillo, who had spotted Guglielmo Vicario off his line, to audaciously try his luck from 80 yards out. The Spurs keeper backpedalled desperately and was relieved to watch the effort fly just wide.
If Murillo’s intention had been to spark the game into life then he succeeded moments later. Not, though, in the way he would have liked.
Werner had started brightly down Spurs’ left and it was his flashed delivery across the six-yard box that forced Murillo, oblivious of the picture behind him, to touch into his own goal. A short VAR check confirmed Werner had timed his run perfectly.
The German has embraced the carte blanche that joining Spurs on loan from RB Leipzig has proved to be, having failed to impress during his time at Chelsea. He has made a strong case for his Tottenham stay to be made permanent in the summer.
Forest arrived in north London with history against them having managed just one League Cup win in their last nine outings against Spurs. And things appeared to be continuing in a similar vein when Werner again drifted past Neco Williams before picking out Johnson, whose effort was expertly saved by Sels from point-blank range.
Yet this shifting Spurs side of unreliable form, who have not kept a clean sheet at home since October, are not known for doing things the easy way and so it proved once more as Forest restored parity.
Full-back Destiny Udogie failed to track Anthony Elanga’s smart give-and-go with Williams, allowing Elanga to lay on for Wood to sweep home through the legs of Porro.
It was the fourth successive Premier League game in which the New Zealand international has scored, a feat Wood has only achieved once before in his career.
The striker should have added a 13th to his league tally moments later when Ryan Yates forced Vicario into a full-stretch save from an Ola Aina cutback. With the keeper scrambling to get back up, Wood only needed to lift the ball but instead went for power and watched as his effort cannoned off the post.
James Maddison’s form has been cause for budding concern in some quarters, yet it was his discipline that ephemerally came into question on the stroke of half time. A punch to the Yates’ midriff appeared innocuous if not ill-advised. VAR did not take issue with it.
Postecoglou cut a frustrated figure on the touchline for much of the first half and would surely have minded to deliver a dressing down of sorts at the interval. On came Pierre-Emile Højbjerg and Rodrigo Bentancur for Sarr and Yves Bissouma.
These are the kind of in-game decisions upon which managers reputations are built and this match turned on the double substitution.
With Postecoglou’s words still ringing in their ears, Spurs required just eight minutes to regain the lead.
Porro, Johnson and Son Heung-min’s working of a short corner across the edge of the box was far too intricate for van de Ven who did not think twice before blasting the ball into the top corner. Sels had no chance.
Van de Ven’s first goal at home sparked wild scenes as a ground that had until then been dripped with anxiety breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Just moments later - before Spurs fans had finished celebrating the second - Porro added a thumping third.
Substitute Bentancur did well to help on Maddison’s cross to the back post where three Spurs players lay in wait, one of whom was Porro who slammed a half-volley beyond Sels.
It was by no means a perfect performance, with Forest still finding openings, but the two-goal advantage was enough for Spurs to see the game out. Son came closest to adding a fourth: he had a strike well-saved by Sels.
Tottenham’s quest for Champions League football is now, finally, in their hands. As for Forest, their fate is still up to their players - and lawyers.
Player of the match: Micky van de Ven
Micky van de Ven delivered yet another stellar performance for Spurs, using his remarkable physical attributes and defensive sensibilities to marshal the back line.
He deserved a truly big moment at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and that came tonight when he scored his second goal for the club in front of the exultant South Stand. The picture-perfect moment.
