Tottenham 2 Burnley 1: Clarets RELEGATED as Spurs leave it late to keep Champions League hopes alive
MICKY VAN DE VEN’S late strike sent Vincent Kompany’s Burnley hurtling back to the Championship.
The Clarets needed to win at Spurs to stand a chance of staying up and had looked in good shape when Jacob Bruun Larsen gave them an early lead.
Yet Tottenham did what they have done against so many average opposition at home this season as they turned it around thanks to goals from Porro and Van de Ven.
It kept their own slim chances of reaching the top four alive.
But for Burnley, their Premier League survival dream is now dead, having taken just 24 points from their 37 games played so far.
Spurs were horribly out of form after four straight defeats and their lack of confidence was obvious throughout.
Burnley should have been ahead after just five minutes but Guglielmo Vicario was on hand to deny Vitinho’s goal-bound header.
Ange Postecoglou’s men looked a shadow of the side that had dismantled the Clarets 5-2 on their own patch back in September.
Captain Son Heung-min hit a hat-trick that day in his first game playing through the middle, but he was next to no threat here.
The home fans applauded the life of late Spurs supporter Morgan Smith in the 23rd minute – in reference to the tragically young age at which he died.
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Seconds later, Burnley took the lead as they become the latest side to expose Spurs’ brittle backline.
Sander Berge beat Porro to a 50-50 and rolled the ball in behind makeshift left-back Oliver Skipp, for Bruun Larsen to slot past Vicario.
It was no shock given Spurs’ poor run of form – and the seventh time in their last eight home league games they had fallen behind.
The goal was a huge boost to the visitors’ survival hopes, although Muric’s decision to waste time over a goal-kick with only half an hour played seemed a little premature.
It did no good either as minutes later the scores were level as Porro raced forward, was not closed down and blasted in at the near post.
The Spaniard was the difference-maker in Spurs’ 1-0 win over the Clarets here in the FA Cup back in January.
And thought this strike did not quite match that particular howitzer in quality, it was still lethal.
Burnley continued to play risky passes out from the back – as they have all season – and it should have cost them here.
Muric’s awful pass-out went straight to Johnson who should have either buried it or squared for Son to do the same, but instead the Welshman fired into the side netting.
Burnley have had plenty of ‘what if’ moments this season, many involving Muric whose horrendous errors against Brighton and Everton in April cost them four points.
It was the same here as a flurry of chances were not taken in the second half here, from Wilson Odobert’s blast to unconverted headers from Dara O’Shea and Maxime Esteve.
It was a game low on quality, summed up by the out-of-form James Maddison doing the hard bit to give himself a free shot at goal with a neat drop of the shoulder, but then firing weakly at Muric.
Ange Postecoglou had few attacking options on the bench due to injuries to Timo Werner and Richarlison – who, after some confusion on Friday, WAS out with a calf problem.
So the Aussie got creative, bringing on youngster Dane Scarlett to play up top, pushed Son out wide and Van de Ven moved to left-back with the lesser-spotted Radu Dragusin coming on.
It made a difference, with Johnson coming within a whisker of turning home Son’s delivery to send a warning sign to Kompany’s men.
It was not heeded and with eight minutes to go, Van de Ven found himself in Burnley’s box, composed himself and fired into the bottom corner.
That did for Burnley, who then suffered the ignominy of players arguing with each other in the dying minutes.
Lorenz Assignon wanted a penalty when he went down under Son’s challenge, but then stayed down even neither ref Jarred Gillet nor his VAR gave it.
Centre-back Dara O’Shea then marched up the pitch and told his team-mate to get up and get on with it.
It left Assignon seething with nigh-on everyone, earning him a yellow card which only enraged him further as his side faced up to life back in the second tier next season.
