When it finally arrived, there was an air of resignation from Vincent Kompany. For almost 40 minutes of the second half, his Burnley team had somehow held out in the face of a Tottenham onslaught as Ange Postecoglou’s side launched wave after wave of attacks.
Having taken a surprise lead in the first half through Jacob Bruun Larsen’s well-taken strike, a Tottenham fightback thanks to goals from Pedro Porro and Micky van de Ven ended Burnley’s brave resistance and confirmed that they are heading back to where they came from 12 months ago.
“I told the players: no sulking, no moaning, we just have to get on with it and try to come back next season,” said Kompany. “Every game is a lesson but we have got to keep the energy high. The good times will come again for this club.”
As well as keeping up their slim chances of reaching the Champions League – only a victory over Manchester City on Tuesday that could help hand Arsenal the title will suffice as they bid to catch Aston Villa in fourth spot – there was also relief for Postecoglou as he avoided becoming the first Spurs manager since Ossie Ardiles in 1994 to lose five league games in a row. While this was far from a return to their free-flowing best from earlier in the season, he acknowledged sometimes the result is all that matters.
“This was always going to be a tricky one for us – losing four games its bound to effect the players and create stress and anxiety,” said Postecoglou, who revealed that they are still waiting for the results of scans on Richarlison’s knee that could rule him out of the meeting with Pep Guardiola’s side here on Tuesday.
“City are an amazing team who have set the standards in this league but it’s at our place and we’ll give it a crack.”
Postecoglou had been a guest of the Australian government at a Buckingham Palace tea party this week and said he would have no qualms about delivering a knockout blow to Burnley, who King Charles revealed are his favourite team in 2012.
But with their opponents having suffered four successive Premier League defeats for the first time in 20 years, Kompany’s players – who all applauded their supporters with their manager at the final whistle – were always going to go down fighting.
It required a goalline clearance from Cristian Romero to save Tottenham early on after Guglielmo Vicario had pushed away Vitinho’s header, while Arijanet Muric denied Brennan Johnson on what would be a busy afternoon for the Burnley goalkeeper.
Not for the first time this season, however, it was Spurs who found themselves trailing at home when Sander Berge was too strong in the tackle for Porro before playing in Bruun Larsen, who finished emphatically to spark wild celebrations in the away section basking in the sunshine.
Luckily for Postecoglou as the murmurs of discontent were just beginning to become audible, his side were not behind for long. Porro made up for his error by speeding away from Dara O’Shea having been fed by Johnson before smashing the ball past Muric to leave Kompany stamping his feet in frustration.
Johnson then should have given Tottenham the lead when Muric gifted him possession inside his own penalty area but the Wales forward could only find the side netting.
Tottenham have made a habit of winning games this season with strong second-half performances and they took control after the break.
James Maddison should have done better when he was played in Porro but Muric was able to thwart him after O’Shea had been left on his backside. Having dominated more than 80% of possession in the second half, it seemed inevitable that the hosts would find a breakthrough, although Dejan Kulusevski could not capitalise on another Burnley mix-up when Josh Cullen gave the ball away cheaply in a dangerous area – a familiar failing since they were promoted that has cost Kompany’s side dear on several occasions.
Johnson could not make his opportunity count after Son Heung-min’s darting run had picked him out at the far post before Muric denied Pape Sarr with a full-length save. But just when it seemed like Tottenham’s luck might be out, Van de Ven seized his moment with eight minutes left to play to condemn Burnley to another season in the Championship.
