Richarlison ends difficult week by inspiring dramatic comeback win for Tottenham
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Richarlison ended a difficult week by coming off the bench to score and inspire Tottenham to a dramatic 2-1 win over Sheffield United.
Spurs were heading for their first Premier League defeat under Ange Postecoglou after Gustavo Hamer put the newly-promoted side 1-0 up in the 73rd minute in north London.
Postecoglou turned to Richarlison and the £60million forward rewarded the faith of his head coach with a headed equaliser in the eighth minute of added time for only his second league goal since joining from Everton last summer.
There was still time for a grandstand finish and it arrived in the 10th minute of stoppage time when Richarlison set up Dejan Kulusevski to rifle home to make it four league wins in a row for Tottenham ahead of next weekend’s derby away to Arsenal.
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It was a cruel ending for Sheffield United, who had Oli McBurnie sent off for a second yellow card before full-time and remain winless after five matches.
Tottenham were unchanged from their 5-2 victory at Burnley before the international break, which meant Richarlison was again restricted to a place on the bench after he revealed in midweek his desire to seek “psychological help” following a turbulent time on and off the pitch.
An excellent start to life under Postecoglou earned him manager of the month for August, but Spurs were provided an early warning by Sheffield United when McBurnie turned neatly in the area, only for his curled effort to hit strike partner Cameron Archer.
Eventually the hosts settled into their stride and Wes Foderingham saved well from Yves Bissouma’s left-footed effort in the 19th minute after a slick move.
Spurs captain Son Heung-min was next to test Foderingham with a curled strike before Guglielmo Vicario got down well to James McAtee’s low shot, which would have been ruled out anyway.
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Postecoglou’s team continued to push for the opener and James Maddison called Foderingham into action before the Sheffield United goalkeeper required lengthy treatment for a muscle injury.
Foderingham was fine to carry on and penalty appeals had been waved away for the hosts by this point after Maddison went down under contact from Chris Basham.
The Blades goalkeeper was booked on the stroke of half-time for handling outside his area before boos greeted the end of the first 45 after only three minutes were added on despite several stoppages.
Foderingham was at the heart of the action at the beginning of the second period when he was caught by Micky van de Ven and needed a concussion check, but the ex-Rangers goalkeeper stayed on to lap up his role as pantomime villain.
Cristian Romero headed wide after fine work by Bissouma soon after, but frustration was starting to get the better of the hosts.
Play was twice halted by referee Peter Bankes after a second ball was thrown onto the pitch before Maddison and Manor Solomon were shown yellow cards in quick succession.
Solomon did fire over soon after and the Blades then provided Tottenham with a sucker-punch in the 73rd minute.
Jack Robinson’s long throw was not dealt with by Pape Sarr or Romero and it dropped for Sheffield United summer signing Hamer, who drilled in at the back post via the woodwork to delight the travelling faithful behind the goal.
Postecoglou reacted with a triple substitution as deadline day addition Brennan Johnson, Richarlison and Ivan Perisic were brought on, which lifted the hosts.
Perisic and Johnson both put the ball in the net not long after their introduction but the offside flag denied them and it was left to Richarlison to steal the show.
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The Brazil number nine was pictured in tears last weekend following another blank in a 5-1 win over Bolivia for his nation but headed home Perisic’s corner deep into added time.
Better was to follow for Tottenham when a superb move involving Perisic and Richarlison saw the latter tee up Kulusevski, who fired through Robinson’s legs to spark wild celebrations as the feelgood factor at Spurs continues.
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