Story of the Match

Spurs 4-3 Leeds United

Team news

Six changes - Deki, Richy start

Antonio Conte made six changes from the midweek defeat at Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup as Lloris, Royal, Davies, Bentancur, Kulusevski and Richarlison coming in for Forster, Doherty, Sanchez, Skipp, Sessegnon and Bissouma. It's a welcome return to the starting line-up for Kulusevski and Richarlison after their recent returns from injuries.

Harrison misses out for Leeds

Wilfried Gnonto came in for the injured Jack Harrison in Leeds’ only change to the side that beat Bournemouth 4-3 last weekend. Their Head Coach Jesse Marsch was still without Patrick Bamford and Mateusz Klich however.

The report...

Rodrigo Bentancur scored a quick-fire double inside the final 10 minutes to clinch a seven-goal thriller against a Leeds United side that had led three times at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

In what was feisty and entertaining affair, the visitors scored through Crysencio Summerville and a brace from Rodrigo, but we kept coming back with Harry Kane and Ben Davies drawing us level twice, before Bentancur struck a three-minute double to turn the game on its head.

Tyler Adams was dismissed for the visitors late on for his second yellow card and we held on for the closing minutes to pick up three important points.

This was our last fixture before the World Cup begins next weekend, but we fell behind for the eighth consecutive game, just 10 minutes gone when Summerville latched onto Brenden Aaronson’s pass to finish left-footed past Hugo Lloris.

Emerson Royal then had a shot saved by Illan Meslier before blazing over from 10 yards out after great work down the left by Davies, while Lloris saved with his legs to deny Summerville his second.

We were level on 26 minutes, Meslier’s punch from an Ivan Perisic corner falling to Kane who produced an exquisite first touch to take the ball past Adams and then fired home from 10 yards.

But the visitors regained the lead just before the break when Rasmus Kristensen flicked on Liam Cooper’s header and Rodrigo stole in behind our defence to volley home, Lloris getting a good hand on it but unable to keep it out.

Just five minutes after the interval it was all square again. Kristensen blocked Kane’s effort from Dejan Kulusevski’s low cross, the ball cannoning out to Davies whose 18-yard drive beat the attempts of Meslier and Kristensen to keep it out.

We had the upperhand for a while, the excellent Kulusevski firing into the side-netting and the Leeds defence keeping out a series of corners, but the visitors went in front for the third time on 76 minutes, Rodrigo racing onto Marc Roca’s pass down the inside left channel and angling a low drive past Lloris and in off the far post.

We refused to lie down though and showed great character in the final 10 minutes, levelling it up yet again on 81 minutes, Bentancur controlling and firing home to make it 3-3 and, with the atmosphere cranked up, we broke away with Kane finding Kulusevski, who did superbly well to get to the byline and cut back for Bentancur to drill in a dramatic winner.

The key moment

The late goal to give us the lead for the first time - and what proved to be the winner - has to be the main moment of the game for us. We were staring a third successive Premier League defeat in the face when Rodrigo made it 3-2 with 14 minutes left, but Bentancur’s fine strike levelled it up yet again. He wasn’t finished there though and, after some wonderful work on the wing from Kulusevski, our Uruguayan midfielder was in the right place to tuck home his second and our fourth. A big goal to settle the contest.

Item 1 of 9

Rodrigo Bentancur (83) | Spurs 4-3 Leeds United

Match data...

Spurs (3-4-3): Lloris (c), Royal (Doherty 57), Dier, Lenglet (Sanchez 57), Davies, Perisic, Bentancur, Hojbjerg, Kulusevski (Lucas 89), Richarlison (Bissouma 69), Kane. Substitutes (not used): Forster, Spence, Tanganga, Skipp, Bryan.

Leeds (4-2-3-1): Meslier, Kristensen (Joseph 89), Koch, Cooper (c), Struijk, Roca (Ayling 79), Adams, Gnonto (Greenwood 46), Aaronson, Summerville, Rodrigo (Gelhardt 89). Substitutes (not used): Robles, Firpo, Llorente, Gyabi, Perkins.

Goals: Spurs - Kane 26, Davies 51, Bentancur 81, 83; Leeds - Summerville 10, Rodrigo 43, 76.

Yellow cards: Spurs - Bentancur; Leeds - Roca, Adams.

Red card: Leeds - Adams.

Referee: Michael Salisbury.

Attendance: 61,667

Weather: Sunny, gentle breeze, 16 degrees.

Star of the show - Rodrigo Bentancur

Not for the first time this season, we have to give the nod to Rodrigo Bentancur. To be fair, he was run close by Dejan Kulusevski who was excellent on his return to the starting line-up, but the Uruguayan was everywhere out there.

His commitment and passion are clear to see and he’s added goals to his game too. He was probably afforded more freedom to get forward following the introduction of Yves Bissouma from the bench, but he grabbed it with both hands to score his fourth and fifth goals for Spurs.

Stats a fact

Gr-eight v Leeds

We continued our recent good form against Leeds with this victory. That’s now eight wins in our last 10 Premier League meetings with the Whites (D1 L1), having lost eight of our previous nine against them in the top-flight.

Five star Rodri

Before his arrival in January, Rodrigo Bentancur had scored just four goals in 243 appearances for previous clubs Boca Juniors and Juventus, but his brace took his Spurs tally to five goals already in just 39 matches in our colours so far.

Six up on Saturday

At home, we have won each of our last six Saturday games in the Premier League. Antonio Conte’s side have scored 19 goals across these six games, at an average of just over three per match.

Conte's comment...

"It was a big, big effort. It was the last game… to play 13 games in a row in 43 days was really, really tough. We lost a lot of energy, not just physical energy, but also mental energy. The players, myself, my staff, preparing for games every two or three days, no training session to try to improve the tactical aspect, and don’t forget also what happened in these 43 days and the emotional aspect was really tough with (the sad passing of) Gian Piero.

"This situation affected us a lot, many players, my staff. For this reason, to have qualified first in our group in the Champions League and to stay in a good position in the table, after this part of the season, it means, first of all, we made a big, big effort and secondly, we’re working very well, me, the staff and especially the players are showing to be really professional to face this period."

What it means...

In terms of the Premier League, this result means we will head into the World Cup break no lower than fourth in the table, with 29 points from our 15 matches. We also returned to winning ways after back-to-back defeats to Nottingham Forest (Carabao Cup) and Liverpool (Premier League).

Next up...

Next up for us is a six-week break from any action as domestic football comes to a temporary halt for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The tournament starts on Sunday 20 November, with the final on Sunday 18 December. It means we’re not back in action until Boxing Day, when we travel to Brentford in the Premier League, with our next home game not 1 January 2023 against Aston Villa.