Tottenham were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw by Leeds United at home.
Mathys Tel went from hero to zero, as Tottenham Hotspur were held to a 1-1 draw by Leeds United in North London on Monday evening.
After a tense but goalless first half, Mathys Tel opened the scoring for Spurs. He bent in a beauty from the edge of the box after Leeds United players had cleared a corner. 20 minutes later, the Frenchman was then adjudged to have dangerously kicked Ethan Ampadu in the head, conceding a penalty. He didn’t know that the player was coming in and caught Ampadu high in the face.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin stepped up to take the penalty and thrashed home past Antonin Kinsky to make it 1-1. After Leeds United got the equaliser via Calvert-Lewin, they stepped up a gear and started causing problems for Tottenham. Spurs players’ energy and concentration levels started dipping, and the visitors took full advantage of it by pressing them and forcing errors.
Kinsky made a heroic point-blank save from substitute Sean Longstaff’s strong left-footed shot to keep the scoreline. Tottenham tried to grab the winner in the hefty chunk of stoppage time but eventually couldn’t and had to settle for a valuable point.
Alan Smith gives verdict on Tottenham’s draw with Leeds United
Former Arsenal striker Alan Smith has now given his take on the game. The famous commentator thinks Tottenham would have been disappointed to not win the contest after going a goal up, although it was a credible point earned and keeps them in the “box seat”.
“Tottenham will be gutted having gone a goal ahead, but at the end of the day, they have gained a point on West Ham. They’ve got to look at it in a positive way. Still all to play for, but Spurs still in the box seat,” Alan Smith said on Sky Sports (h/t BBC Sport).
Indeed, Roberto De Zerbi and his boys would be gutted to drop points at home and not take advantage of West Ham’s loss to Arsenal. The result leaves the Lilywhites two points above the drop zone, and gives an opening for the Hammers to catch them. They missed a glorious opportunity to stretch the lead to four points and take the winning momentum to Stamford Bridge at the weekend.
Nonetheless, it was a priceless point earned against an in-form Leeds, who were confirmed as safe following West Ham’s 1-0 loss to Arsenal on Sunday. Let’s hope our boys keep the spirits up and beat Chelsea away.