Many thanks to Declan Mulcahy for this report:-

Saturday 27 September 2025, 8:00pm
Premier League
Tottenham Hotspur (0) 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers (0) 1

Spurs scorer:-
Palhinha, 90+4

Wolves scorer:-
S Bueno, 54

Tottenham Hotspur (4-2-3-1):
1 G Vicario; 24 D Spence (23 Pedro Porro 63), 17 C Romero (c), 37 M van de Ven, 13 D Udogie (11 M Tel 84); 6 Joao Palhinha, 30 R Bentancur (22 B Johnson 62); 20 M Kudus, 15 L Bergvall (29 P Sarr 78), 7 X Simons (28 W Odobert 78); 9 Richarlison.

Subs not used: 31 A. Kinsky (gk), 4 K Danso, 14 A Gray, 44 D Scarlett.

Booked: Simons (32 foul on Munetsi), Bergvall (65 foul on Bellegarde), Joao Palhinha (90+4 goal celebration)

Wolverhampton Wanderers (4-2-3-1): Vitor Pereira
31 S Johnstone; 2 M. Doherty (c) (12 E Agbadou 45), 4 S Bueno, 37 L Krejci, 3 H Bueno; 8 Joao Gomes (27 J Bellegarde 64), 7 Andre; 10 J Arias (24 Toti Gomes 92), 5 M Munetsi, 11 H-C Hwang (38 J Tchatchoua 45); 9 J Strand Larsen (14 T Arokodare 84)

Subs not used: 1 Jose Sa (gk), 21 Rodrigo Gomes, 6 D Moller Wolfe, 28 Fer Lopez

Booked: Doherty (35 foul on Udogie), Joao Gomes (39 foul on Simons)

Captain's armband: Doherty (Joao Gomes 45), (Strand Larsen 64), (Krejci 84)

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Attendance: 60,537

Referee:- Michael Salisbury
Assistants:- Marc Perry, Steve Meredith
Fourth official:- David Webb
VAR:- Stuart Attwell
Assistant VAR:- Akil Howson

Palhinha to the rescue on a disappointing night

Spurs played poorly tonight. They conceded a scrappy goal early in the second half. They looked to be heading for defeat by the bottom club in the Premier League table. However in injury time Joao Palhinha scored a fine goal to give Spurs a share of the points.

Spurs made two changes from the team which drew against Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend with Djed Spence and Xavi Simons replacing Pedro Porro and Wilson Odobert. It was the first time that full back combination of Spence and Udogie had started a match this season. Only four of the starting XI from the Doncaster Rovers game were retained today, Spence, Joao Palhinha, Rodrigo Bentancur and Xavi Simons.

Dominic Solanke (ankle) and Randal Kolo Muani (dead leg) were still missing along with the longer term injured players James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski and Radu Dragusin.

Pereira opted to use most of the team which beat Everton in the Carabao Cup in midweek rather than the team which lost to Leeds United last weekend. There was one change with Joao Gomes coming in for Jean-Ricner Bellegarde. Former Spurs player Matt Doherty captained Wolves side.

Wolves must have won the toss since Spurs played towards the south end in the first half.

Spurs showed attacking intent between the fifteenth and 30th minutes.

Their first shot on target happened when Simons set up Kudus with a cross from the left. His effort was deflected by Johnstone onto the bar and over.

Then Udogie intercepted the ball in the Spurs half and made a run deep into Wolves territory before crossing towards Bergvall. The ball bounced awkwardly and Bergvall was unable connect properly with it.

Kudus and Bergvall combined well before Kudus put the ball in the net but it was disallowed because Kudus was offside when receiving the final pass.

Udogie made another run into the box but delayed too long with the final pass which was blocked.

Just before the interval Palhinho set up Kudus whose effort brought a diving save from Johnstone.

In time added on Arias made a good run but Udogie blocked him. The final action of the half was a Wolves corner from which a Doherty effort hit the post.

Vitor Pereira made two changes at the break with Agbadou and Tchatchoua replacing Doherty and Hwang. They also switched from their starting 4-2-3-1 to their more traditional 3-4-2-1 formation. From the outset they were more organised and took over the initiative from Spurs.

Wolves goal came nine minutes later. Arias's corner from the right was headed on by Strand Larsen. Vicario parried the ball but lost his balance. The ball bounced off Palhinho and fell to Santiago Bueno who hit a shot out of reach of the helpless Vicario.

Frank made changes from the hour mark. Porro and Johnson replaced Spence and Bentancur. The next alteration involved Sarr and Odobert for Bergvall and Simon and finally Tel instead of Udogie. However none had a significant impact.

Spurs were having difficulty mounting any meaningful attacks. When opportunities arose either the final pass was poor or a player attempted a long-range effort which didn't trouble the goalkeeper.

Vicario made a good save from Hugo Bueno.

Going into time added-on Pereira tried to consolidate his position by taking off an attacker Arias and bringing on a defender Toti Gomes.

With a couple of minutes remaining Tel crossed from the left. Sarr set up Palhinho who hit a fine shot into the right corner of the net. He couldn't contain his excitement, ran to the supporters in the north end, removed his shirt and gave it to a lucky person. He was booked for his celebrations.

Palhinho has had a major impact so far this season. He scored the second consolidating goal in the away win at Manchester City and opened the scoring against Doncaster Rovers on Wednesday with a wonderful overhead kick. Today he rescued a point from nowhere.

This was a disappointing result. However in the context of the Premier League season so far Spurs are not doing any worse than most of the so called "big teams".

Newcastle United and Aston Villa who have each played a game less have six and three points respectively. Chelsea and Manchester City have each lost two games. The teams who are exceeding expectations are unexpected ones such as Crystal Palace, Sunderland and Bournemouth.

As of tonight Spurs are third in the Premier League table but could drop to fourth depending on what happens in the Newcastle United v Arsenal game tomorrow. Spurs have scored eleven goals with only Manchester City and Liverpool scoring more. They have conceded four goals with only Arsenal, Crystal Palace and Newcastle United conceding less.

While there have been missed opportunities Spurs remain well-placed at this point. Richarlison has been off form for the last few games and the absence of both Kolo Muani and Solanke hasn't helped.

There were a number of firsts tonight:

. It was the first time Spurs had played a Premier League game which started at 8:00pm on a Saturday evening (Probably the only other time that Spurs have kicked off at this time on a Saturday was the Champions League final in Madrid in 2019.)

. This is the first time that Spurs have gone six consecutive league games against Wolves without a win.

. In the Premier League today there were eight goals scored in the 90th minute or later, the most ever. Spurs and Bournemouth both drew. Brighton and Crystal Palace won. Some of the late goals had no impact on the result.

Spurs now face a journey to the Arctic circle to reprise the Bodo/Glimt match this time in the Champions League on Tuesday. This will be followed by a lunch-time game at Elland Road against Leeds United on Saturday. An improvement over today's performance will be required in both of these games.

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