Tottenham sealed a dramatic win against Bournemouth on the south coast after coming from behind to win 3-2 thanks to a late Rodrigo Bentancur winner.
Antonio Conte opted to rotate his Spurs side with the likes of Oliver Skipp and Clement Lenglet coming into the team. The Lilywhites looked on course for a third successive Premier League defeat after Kieffer Moore doubled the scoreline with a powerful header four minutes into the second half.
Spurs needed a win to get back on track in league and to boost the team's confidence heading into Tuesday's crunch Champions League showdown vs Marseille. Goals from Ryan Sessegnon, Ben Davies and Bentancur saw Conte's side turn the game on it's head, despite leaving it very late with the Tottenham manager hardly celebrating before he headed into the dressing room before the final whistle.
READ MORE: Every word Antonio Conte said on why he went down the tunnel after goal and what he told players
football.london takes a look at how the national media reacted to Spurs' dramatic win against Bournemouth.
An awful start from Spurs saw them go a goal behind through Kieffer Moore's effort, before the Welshman doubled Bournemouth's advantage just after half-time. The first 55 minutes were arguably the worst Tottenham have played all season, having created barely any chances and looking disjointed out of possession.
However, the game turned on its head as soon as Ryan Sessegnon pulled one back for Spurs in the 57th minute. Conte also made a couple of changes, with Bentancur and Ivan Perisic coming on - and it worked a treat as they levelled when Ben Davies struck his first goal of the campaign.
It was all Spurs during the final quarter of an hour and they managed to find the winner in injury-time through Bentancur, who snuck in to fire home, sparking delirium in the away end. In response to the Uruguayan's strike, Conte barely celebrated and decided to storm down the tunnel instead.
When Emerson Royal’s shot flew out of the Vitality Stadium, going clean over the Steve Fletcher Stand and into the car park, the Tottenham supporters sang: ‘What the f***ing hell was that?’ Not an unfair question from the fans. They could even have been asking it of Tottenham’s entire performance as an uninspiring display led them towards a third straight Premier League defeat.
Yet at 2-0 down, a switch was flicked. Tottenham turned into something that resembled a top-four team for the final half hour and won 3-2, a stoppage-time winner completing the turnaround. Ugly or not, Antonio Conte was content. So were the supporters. Not since November 2010 had they seen their side come back from two goals down to win away from home and by full time, they were singing ‘Antonio’ on repeat.
Eight games in October had taken its toll on Tottenham. Harry Kane had played 718 minutes in that period – more than any other Premier League outfield player in all competitions. Dier followed on 700 minutes, and Bentancur on 695. Kane is Tottenham’s undroppable. We know that. But Conte wanted to manage Dier and Bentancur’s minutes and dropped them for game No 9 of the month. A risk? Certainly, but one Conte felt was worth taking.
Relief? Joy? Ultimately a decent dollop of both. Season-defining is perhaps a stretch but this victory, or at least the manner of it, could certainly shape Tottenham’s immediate future. Two in the red approaching the hour mark, a third consecutive league defeat – and with it a miserable end to a chastening 10 days – beckoned.
All was well. And what might have been a sheepish post-match wave of apology towards visiting fans became a united celebration. Tottenham must address their concerning trend of starting tardily and the performance of a heavily rotated side did little to ease concerns about squad depth.
With an eye on midweek in Marseille, half-a-dozen changes included Eric Dier’s absence from the starting lineup for the first time this season, Bentancur initially getting a watching brief and Cristian Romero dropping out altogether. Conte gambled and it almost back-fired. Those are the margins that mean the questions can wait for another day. Tottenham’s ninth and final fixture of a manic October sees them retain third spot.
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