One eye on Milan
Antonio Conte and Cristian Stellini's Tottenham starting XI at Wolves appeared to hint that they do have one eye on Wednesday's Champions League tie vs AC Milan. Trailing 1-0 following their defeat in the first leg at the San Siro midway through February, Spurs need to turn things around or else they will face another cup exit.
One player who won't be available for selection is Eric Dier after the centre-back picked up his third booking of the competition in the 1-0 defeat. With that in mind, the England centre-back dropped down to the bench at Molineux as Clement Lenglet took on the central role and Ben Davies moved back to the left of the three-man defence.
As Dier has been a regular at centre-back all season in the Premier League apart from when he was on the bench at Aston Villa, the team selection did indicate that they do have Milan on their mind. Prior to the Wolves fixture, Romero, Lenglet and Davies had not played together as a three and their game time vs the West Midlands club will certainly boost their partnership and help them ahead of the European showdown.
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Romero vs Costa
Eye were certainly on Romero at Molineux as he came up against former Chelsea man Diego Costa. Both extremely feisty characters, it had all the hallmarks of a classic tussle.
Right from kick-off the pair were at it, with the Wolves striker going to ground after only three minutes after a coming together with the Tottenham man. Not long after Romero came out on top in one challenge, thus seeing his opponent give him a couple of slaps on the back after Tottenham had moved the ball upfield.
Looking set to be a real contest between the two, Costa's day came to an early end after landing awkwardly following an aerial challenge with Oliver Skipp midway through the first half. Those who wanted to see more of Costa and Romero going at each other were left rather disappointed.
Hojbjerg questions Kulusevski
It became immediately clear that Costa had a problem as soon as he landed when competing for the ball with Skipp. The 34-year-old hobbled a couple of times and signalled to the referee that he was in need of treatment before finally dropping down to the ground.
Spurs at that time were in possession of the ball down the right flank and in the end Dejan Kulusevski elected to knock the ball out of play. It was extremely sporting from the Swede but it was something he didn't need to do as Costa wasn't down suffering from a head injury, which would have resulted in the referee immediately halting proceedings.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg didn't seem best pleased that Kulusevski had put the ball out rather than play on as the team could have pushed on towards the Wolves box. The Dane shouted over to his teammate once the game had stopped and he could be seen raising his hands to question why he decided to do that.
Porro's new role
Tottenham may have finally found their man to take on free-kick duty for the team. A long-standing problem ever since Christian Eriksen departed for Inter Milan in January 2020, Harry Kane has assumed the role but has not really come close to finding the net at all.
Awarded a free-kick in a promising position just outside the box after Ruben Neves had fouled Ivan Perisic, Kane, Son Heung-min and Pedro Porro stood over the ball. Having eyed it up and got into position after taking four steps away from the ball, the new signing let fly and his attempt rattled the crossbar.
It was a brilliant effort from the right wing-back and it finally appeared that Tottenham had found their man to take on the troublesome set-piece duties. However, it was Kane who stepped up shortly after the restart as the Lilywhites were handed another free-kick in a central role.
As he has done numerous times with his free-kicks in the past, his attempt struck the wall and came to nothing.
Missed opportunity
Man City's 2-0 win over Newcastle United in the early kick-off had handed Tottenham a glorious present going into the Wolves fixture. City's victory mean Tottenham could open up a seven-point lead over Newcastle in the race for the top four providing that they could record all three points at Molineux.
It was an opportunity they frustratingly passed up as Wolves were victorious courtesy of Adama Traore's fine strike in the closing stages. The gap remains at four points, although Spurs' defeat does now open up the door for Liverpool in the fight for fourth.
If the Reds beat Manchester United on Sunday then there will only be three points separating the sides at such a crucial time in the calendar. Tottenham were once again their own worst enemy.
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