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Nine-man Tottenham squanders chance to clinch top-four Premier League finish

doug mcintyre

Five minutes of madness might just cost Tottenham Hotspur a place in next year’s UEFA Champions League.

The Spurs, which will play the second leg of this season’s Champions League semifinal at Ajax Amsterdam next week, lost 1-0 to Bournemouth on Saturday after Son Heung-min and Juan Foyth were red-carded on either side of halftime.

Tottenham's Dele Alli, left, reacts after Bournemouth scored during the English Premier League soccer match between AFC Bournemouth and Tottenham Hotspur at the Vitality Stadium in Bournemouth, England, Saturday May 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
It was that kind of day for Tottenham, which lost 1-0 to Bournemouth on Nathan Ake's stoppage time after playing almost the entire second half with nine men. (Matt Dunham/AP)

The visitors came into the penultimate weekend of the Premier League season in third place, but London rivals Chelsea and Arsenal can still overtake them in the standings. Only the top four teams in the EPL qualify for Europe’s top club competition.

Tottenham was forced to play the final 42 minutes of Saturday’s match with nine men. Mauricio Pochettino’s team held the Cherries off for all of it, only to see Bournemouth’s Nathan Aké score a stoppage-time winner.

With a two-player advantage, Aké was able to make an unmarked run through the box and meet Ryan Fraser’s corner kick with his head, nodding past Hugo Lloris from the doorstep for the host’s first win over Spurs in 62 years:

For all intents and purposes, though the game was decided through the Spurs’ indiscipline. Son’s sending off might have been harsh; the Korean star reacted with a push after being banged into from behind by Jefferson Lerma.

Things went from bad to nightmare territory for Spurs two minutes after the break, when Foyth — who had just entered at the start of the second half — cut down home defender Jack Simpson with a high boot. There was no dispute about this one, and the Argentine was correctly expelled from the match. Both players will now miss Tottenham’s final match of the season next week versus Everton.

Tottenham can still clinch a top-four finish before then, but it’s a long shot. Fifth-place Arsenal would have to lose at home to relegation-threatened Brighton on Sunday, while also seeing sixth-place Manchester United drop points at already-doomed Huddersfield.

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