When it finally arrived, there was an air of resignation from Vincent Kompany. For almost 40 minutes of the second half, his Burnley side had somehow held out in the face of a Tottenham onslaught as Ange Postecoglou’s side launched wave after wave of attacks.
Having taken a surprise lead in the first half through Jacob Bruun Larsen’s well-taken strike, a Tottenham fightback thanks to goals from Pedro Porro and Micky van den Ven ended Burnley’s brave resistance and confirmed that they are heading back to where they came from 12 months ago. But as well as keeping up their slim chances of reaching the Champions League – only a victory over Manchester City on Tuesday that could hand Arsenal the title will suffice as they bid to catch Aston Villa in fourth spot – there was also relief for Postecoglou as he avoided becoming the first Spurs manager since Ossie Ardiles in 1994 to lose five league games in a row. While this was far from a return to their free-flowing best from earlier in the season, sometimes the result is all that matters.
