At the end of a fiery and fully committed contest, a draw was probably a fair result, yet ultimately both teams may well reflect on what might have been. For Tottenham Hotspur this was a chance missed to go top after largely dominating proceedings while for Bournemouth the feeling will be that having performed with great togetherness they could have won had their opponents been reduced to 10, and possibly even nine, players.
On a different day and with a referee who showed less leniency than Craig Pawson did here, both Érik Lamela and Moussa Sissoko would almost certainly have been sent off for their respective displays of recklessness. Sissoko’s incident was the most blatant with the midfielder, having come on as a 72nd-minute substitute, clearly striking Harry Arter with his elbow as the pair tussled by the near touchline. Arter was enraged and complained to Pawson, but the official, despite having a clear view of what had happened, took no action. That was also the case on 40 minutes, when Lamela lunged in on Dan Gosling having already received a yellow card. The Argentinian’s reaction was that of a man who expected to be dismissed, but he survived.
Not surprisingly, Sissoko’s foul on Arter was raised with both managers and, perhaps also not surprisingly, both claimed not to have seen the flashpoint. Instead, Mauricio Pochettino and Eddie Howe were more interested in praising the efforts of their players, with the latter claiming this display by Bournemouth had pleased him more than the one they delivered in defeating Hull 6-1 here.
“I was really proud of the players,” said Howe. “More proud than I was this time last week, partly because of the quality of the opposition we were playing against.
“They’re supremely talented players and we felt our best option was to try to stop the ball getting into the final third with our workrate and intensity. The players delivered an incredible physical performance, full of endeavour and desire.”
In that regard, no one shone more brightly than Arter, who closed down opposition players with relentless desire and was quite rightly named man of the match Yet, as Howe intimated, this was a collectively impressive display by the hosts as they looked to push Tottenham back right from kick-off. Callum Wilson led the charge, with the lone centre-forward ably supported by the attacking trio of Joshua King, Jack Wilshere and Jordon Ibe. Behind them Arter and Gosling, who came into the starting lineup just before kick-off after Andrew Surman was ruled out because of illness, restricted the ability of Mousa Dembélé and Deli Alli to dictate proceedings and cause danger from centre midfield in their usual manner.
Bournemouth had the best chance of the match, a close-range shot from Charlie Daniels after five minutes that looked to be heading in, only for Hugo Lloris to deflect the ball on to the bar with this leg and make a second eye-catching stop in four days after his stunning block of Javier Hernández’s close-range strike in Tuesday’s Champions League draw with Bayer Leverkusen.
Lamela almost scored for Tottenham on 17 minutes with a long-range drive but, overall, the visitors were left feeling frustrated during the first half, evident in part by the four bookings they collected during that period. A fifth, and second, for their No11 would have been justified.
The visitors were much improved after the break and deserved to remain the only undefeated team in the Premier League given they had the lion’s share of possession – 61.8% – and created more chances than Bournemouth – 16 compared to eight. However, few of those chances were clear cut and Son Heung-Min was largely anonymous as their lone striker. It is now one goal for Tottenham in their last three games. Harry Kane’s return from injury cannot come quickly enough.
“The game was tough but I am pleased with the efforts of my players,” said Pochettino before going on to concede his side needs to be more ruthless if they are to sustain their title charge. Tottenham are fourth, one point off new leaders Arsenal.
For Bournemouth, it is now four matches without defeat and soon after Sissoko’s strike on Arter – who said he received an apology from the Tottenham player for the elbow, which he accepted, saying “he isn’t that type of player” – there was one more moment for the majority of those in attendance to feel hard done by.
Wilshere – who completed a full match for the first time since September 2014 – went down under a seemingly illegal challenge from Victor Wanyama inside the Tottenham area. Again, however, Pawson saw no wrong.
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