Wolves was swift to bounce back from defeat three days earlier as they scored two quickfire goals on the road at Tottenham Hotspur to secure their fifth victory in four in the Premier League.
The visitors hit twice within the opening 20 minutes, with Raul Jimenez finishing neatly after a double block from Spurs saw the ball fall to the feet of the Mexican who lifted his finish into the top corner of the net, before Leander Dendoncker added a second by tapping in from close-range.
Although it was the hosts who had much more of the threat during the remaining 70 minutes, Wolves were able to see out the game and get back to winning ways in the top-flight.
Bruno Lage made two changes from the side which fell to Arsenal on Thursday night, as Rayan Ait-Nouri came back into the team, while Luke Cundle was handed his full senior debut for the visit to north London.
Switching to a five-man midfield, with Jimenez and Daniel Podence creating a strike partnership at the top of the pitch appeared to have an immediate impact, as Jimenez opened the scoring after just six minutes on the clock.
Having won a free-kick in a dangerous position, Ait-Nouri’s initial delivery was cleared, but Ruben Neves – on his 200th appearance in gold and black – hammered a long-range effort which was only blocked as far as Dendoncker, but his follow up was only cleared as far as the Mexican striker who hit a neat finish into the top corner.
Spurs pushed to get back into the game, but Jose Sa was equal to everything the white shirts could throw at him, saving a spate of efforts from Heung-min Son throughout the opening 45 minutes.
But it was the visitors who got the second goal of the game, as Podence picked up the ball in the centre of the penalty area and let fly at goal, but his effort took various deflections before rebounding off the base of the post straight to Dendoncker, who hammered home from a matter of yards out.
Wolves exerted their dominance throughout the half, and had several other efforts to extend their lead, the best of which fell to the boot of Jimenez, who let fly from the edge of the Spurs penalty area, but Lloris got a big hand to the ball to palm it clear.
Both sides had chances to get on the scoresheet as the half progressed, with Harry Kane finding space down Wolves’ left, but Romain Saiss was able to recover and cut out the danger with a sliding challenge. However, the scoresheet wasn’t altered and the visitors took a two goal lead into the break.
Half-time | Tottenham 0-2 Wolves
For all of Wolves’ attacking endeavours in the first 45 minutes, it was Tottenham who looked the likeliest of getting the third goal of the game, as Kane and Sa were having a personal battle which the goalkeeper was coming out on top of.
Firstly, the England captain fired a free-kick straight into Sa’s grasps, before being played in behind the gold and black defence, only to see his effort come back off the keeper’s leg as he tried to shoot across goal. A Kane header was then caught by the Portuguese, while Maximilian Kilman made a neat tackle to deny Son a shot at goal.
The hosts came closest to halving the deficit through Harry Winks and Dejan Kulusevski. Winks rattled the outside of the post with a deflected effort from the edge of the box, before Kulusevski found space in a similar position, but his half-volley flashed narrowly wide with Sa beaten.
It wasn’t all Spurs, Wolves created opportunities of their own, with Cundle playing a neat pass through to Jimenez, although the striker couldn’t get a shot away before Lloris closed him down and conceded a corner, while Ait-Nouri had a strike which flew just wide of the post.
With Wolves looking to see out the game, the final 10 minutes became a very scrappy affair, while a raft of substitutions took any real flow out of the proceedings. However, there was still opportunities to be made, and it took a stunning one-handed stop by Sa to palm a Cristian Romero header over the crossbar.
But the visitors were able to see out the game and secure the three points, which moved Lage’s men above Spurs and into seventh in the Premier League table.
Full-time | Tottenham 0-2 Wolves
Tottenham | Lloris, Doherty (Emerson 82), Sanchez, Romero, Davies, Sessegnon (Kulusevski 28), Bentancur, Winks, Lucas (Bergwijn 71), Son, Kane.
Unused subs | Gollini, Rodon, Reguilon, White, Hojbjerg, Scarlett.
Wolves | Sa, Semedo, Kilman, Coady, Saiss, Ait-Nouri, Neves, Dendoncker, Cundle (Trincao 84), Podence (Hwang 81), Jimenez (Silva 86).
Unused subs | Ruddy, Hoever, Toti, Marcal, Jonny, Chiquinho.
Referee | Kevin Friend
Attendance | 56,452
