Tottenham leave it late vs Bournemouth – and there's no VAR heartbreak this time

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Tottenham came from two goals down to beat Bournemouth 3-2 on Saturday, ending a run of three games without a win

Rodrigo Bentancur celebrates after scoring a late winner for Tottenham against Bournemouth.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Tottenham came from two goals down to beat Bournemouth in a thrilling contest on the south coast on Saturday – and there was no VAR to deny Antonio Conte's side a late winner this time around.

Spurs thought they had beaten Sporting CP in the Champions League on Wednesday night as Harry Kane headed home in stoppage time to make it 2-1, but the England captain's effort was ruled out after a lengthy VAR check showed a very marginal offside.

Conte and his players were furious and instead of producing a reaction early on in this match, things only got worse as the visitors fell behind to a Kieffer Moore strike after 22 minutes.

Moore scored again four minutes into the second half to leave Spurs staring at a third successive Premier League defeat, but Ryan Sessegnon pulled one back with a deflected effort after 57 minutes – moments before he was due to be substituted by Conte.

Sessegnon stayed on after that and Ben Davies equalised for Tottenham as he headed home an Ivan Perisic corner after 73 minutes.

And two minutes into added time, Bentancur hit the ball through a crowd and into the net following another corner to break Bournemouth's resolve and seal a late win for Spurs.

The Uruguayan, who has been Tottenham's best player in recent weeks, had replaced Yves Bissouma after 58 minutes and his presence on the pitch changed the game.

There was no VAR heartbreak this time for Spurs and Conte's side consolidate third place behind Manchester City and Arsenal.

Tottenham have 26 points from their 13 games and are three behind City (12 matches) and two adrift of Arsenal (11).

Ben Hayward
Ben Hayward
Weekend editor

Ben Hayward is a European football writer and Tottenham Hotspur fan with over 15 years’ experience, he has covered games all over the world - including three World Cups, several Champions League finals, Euros, Copa America - and has spent much of that time in Spain. Ben speaks English and Spanish, currently dividing his time between Barcelona and London, covering all the big talking points of the weekend on FFT: he’s also written several list features and interviewed Guglielmo Vicario for the magazine.