Tottenham’s 1-1 draw with West Ham on Tuesday evening brought the number of points they’ve lost from games in which they’ve initially led to 20 for the season. This, paired with the 22 points they’ve gained from losing positions, perfectly sums up Spurs’ time under Ange-ball so far.
But does this stat paint the full picture? It must be noted that 14/20 of these lost points came from that now infamous Chelsea visit to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at the beginning of November and the four games following it.
Let’s look back at the eight games in which Spurs dropped points from winning positions and reflect on how things could have gone better and where we would be as a result.
Brentford 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur
The first game in the Postecoglou era was a visit to Brentford for an entertaining tie. Cristian Romero gave Spurs the lead, connecting his head with a lightning James Maddison cross 11 minutes in. Tottenham would find themselves trailing to a combination of goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Yoanne Wissa, before Emerson Royal was the unlikely hero with Spurs’ equalizer, all before halftime.
It was a fair result, but a refreshing one for Spurs fans, seeing Postecoglou’s evident effect on the squad so early on in his tenure. James Maddison and Destiny Udogie impressed on their debuts which was the beginning of a 10-league game unbeaten run for the Lilywhites.
Tottenham Hotspur 1-4 Chelsea
Need much be said for this result? It would be our pals from West London who would be first to get the better over Spurs in the league this season. Tottenham came out all guns blazing in this game, Dejan Kulusevski netting six minutes in was the highlight of their dominance in the opening stages. It looked like it was going to be a long night for Chelsea, but this would quickly take a sharp turn which would go on to define Tottenham’s pre-Christmas form.
Romero and Udogie were both sent off after some interesting challenges by both men, leaving Spurs with nine left on the pitch. The killer blow for Spurs came from the injuries to both Maddison and Mickey Van de Ven who both came off just before half-time. In saying all this, the result still could have gone differently. Postecoglou’s decision to keep an extremely high line divided opinions, but Chelsea wouldn’t take the lead until the 75th minute.
After this Eric Dier had a goal ruled out through offside and Rodrigo Bentancur would fractionally hit a chance wide passed the Chelsea post. Nicolas Jackson took advantage of tired Tottenham legs as the game wore on into added time and completed his hattrick. Despite the heavy scoreline, many came away from one of the most bizarre Premier League games of all time with the notion that if things had just gone slightly different, Spurs could have come away with a point, if not maybe more if they had the numbers on the pitch.
Wolves 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur
As mentioned previously, the Chelsea match was the first of a five-match streak of losing points from winning positions for Spurs. And the result against Wolves was a worrying one. Contending with all his fresh injuries and suspensions, Postecoglou handed Dier his first start of the season, with Ben Davies beside him and Emerson at left-back.
Again, Spurs would score early, this time through Brennan Johnson, but they would never seem to grab a steady foothold in the game. Wolves were creating far more chances than their visitors but couldn’t find an equaliser.
That changed in the 91st minute when Pablo Sarabia netted past Vicario and was followed six minutes later by a winner from Mario Lemina snatching all three points.
Due to how long Spurs were ahead be argued that they should have gotten more from this game, but I would say with the weakened Spurs side that went to Molineux that day, and the difficulty they had with Wolves’ sheer amount of chances compared to Tottenham, it surely was inevitable that Wolves would quench their lead and take something from the game.
Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Aston Villa
Spurs’ woes continued when Aston Villa came to inflict onto them their third defeat in a row. Excitement before the game from the surprise return of Rodrigo Bentancur after nine months out to give a boost to the depleted squad. But his lively start was cut short from a seriously poor challenge from Matty Cash which would see the Uruguayan sidelined once again. Spurs created many great chances in the first half and would be rewarded for their efforts thanks to a lovely finish from Gio Lo Celso.
With limited options once again, Postecoglou debuted a back four consisting of four traditional full-backs Davies, Emerson, Porro and Udogie. This meant Tottenham stood little chance when a Villa free kick was lofted into the with Pau Torres on the receiving end to equalize just before the half-time whistle.
Ollie Watkins scored in the second half to collect all three points for the Birmingham outfit but admitted, along with Unai Emery, that they were lucky too, considering the chances Spurs created in the first half (Sky Sports).
They were probably right to say this, it was a slightly stronger-looking Tottenham side than in previous games and if they had put away more of the chances they had carved out, they would have surely killed the game off early and taken their first victory in nearly a month at that stage.
Manchester City 3-3 Tottenham Hotspur
A trip to the Etihad, no matter what the circumstances, was always a game Spurs would be up for. They came with their back four of fullbacks to contend with the threat of Haaland, Foden and Doku and really brought the game to the treble winners.
Son would give Spurs a familiar early lead before cancelling it out with an own goal at the other end just three minutes later. Man City, focused on creating chances and wearing Spurs down, took the lead thanks to Phil Foden, but after this began to die down, especially early in the second half.
Lo Celso was the man to capitalise on this scoring his second goal in successive games. The Citizens sprang back into action, Jack Grealish came on to give them a late lead. But they wouldn’t be ahead for long when Kulusevski met a beautiful Johnson cross to steal a point in the 90th minute.
This was the first Spurs had seemed to keep a bit of life about them throughout a whole game since the Chelsea result. Because of this taking a point home would look to be a fair result. Although City fans will point to Simon Hooper denying Grealish a clean run at Vicario in the dying minutes as a reason Spurs didn’t deserve something from the game, but a goal was never guaranteed!
Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 West Ham
This would be the last of Spurs’ five winless matches on the trot, and this result confirmed the old saying “It must get worse before it gets better”. Fresh off their exhilarating result in Manchester, it was a returning Cristian Romero who gave Spurs the lead from a corner. But Spurs fans had, at this stage, learned not to get too comfortable with an early lead. And this was justified once again as Jarrod Bowen equalized when the ball fortuitously fell to his feet inside the box.
Spurs created a lot of quality chances and pegged the Hammers back multiple times with their efforts. But this was null and void because it would be James Ward Prowse who would score, gifting his side the victory. It was another game where Spurs felt they should’ve come away with more and they easily could have if they slotted home their chances, but luck was on West Ham’s side.
Everton 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur
Fortunes would pick up once again for Spurs and they wouldn’t drop points from a winning position again until mid-February. They started brightly as Richarlison returned to Goodison Park to haunt Everton, scoring two goals either side of a Jack Harrison equalizer.
It was an open game, but Everton’s threat diminished as time went on and Vicario and the Spurs defence grew accustomed to dealing with the Blues’ crosses into their box.
It looked like Tottenham would hold onto their lead until Jarrod Branthwaite headed the ball into the net with 94 minutes on the clock. It was a disappointing result for Spurs who had picked up an impressive run of form.
While taking a point from a difficult place like Goodison is a positive, this was an instance where Spurs had looked to have figured the home side out and should’ve come away with their lead intact.
West Ham 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Taking us to Tuesday night where Spurs reached the 20-point mark with their draw away to West Ham. The Hammers have managed to take 4 points from Spurs this season after having initially been behind. Spurs looked to build on a good win at home to Luton when Johnson scored just 5 minutes in at the London Stadium. Kurt Zouma would soon after cancel this out with a powerful header past Vicario.
It was an evenly matched game, both teams failing to score in the remaining hour of the game meant they were forced to share the spoils. A draw being a fair result for Spurs, whose attacking output failed to shine for most of the game, but it was disappointing for Postecoglou’s men who were hoping to enter passed Aston Villa into the top four with eight games remaining.
While Spurs throwing away 20 points from winning positions is a worrying stat at first glance, it is more comforting to remember the majority of these points came from those five tough games in a row from November to December when injuries and suspensions had to be dealt with in the aftermath of the Chelsea match. It can’t be seen as much of an ongoing issue when 16 of these points were lost in 2023 alone and the remaining 4 in 2024.
What is a pressing issue however is something that is seen in a lot of these games and still seen now is the number of chances that this Spurs side can create but can’t take. Is this something that must be worked on in the training ground or something fixed in the transfer window?
While some of these games finished with deserved results, others could’ve gone differently if Ange’s men put away more of the chances that they easily created. Considering Spurs are two points off the top four with eight games remaining, there’s no doubt that if they had clinched six more points from the ones they’d lost, we’d be in a far more comfortable position.
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