Tel scores then concedes a penalty as Spurs draw Leeds to stay two clear of West Ham
Mathys Tel scored the kind of goal Tottenham's survival fight has been crying out for, then handed Leeds the equaliser 23 minutes later. The 1-1 draw at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Monday night kept Spurs above the relegation line, but only just, with two games left to play.
Tel curls one in, then gives a penalty away
The opener was a thing of polish. Five minutes into the second half, Pedro Porro's corner was half-cleared to the edge of the area. Tel took a touch to set himself, then bent a right-footed shot into the top corner. The technique was clean, the angle was tight, and for a half-hour the home end allowed itself to believe.
The reset came from the same boot. Tel swung at a cross inside his own area on 73 minutes and caught Ethan Ampadu on the way through. The on-field referee waved play on, VAR sent him to the monitor, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin slotted the penalty past Antonin Kinsky, who guessed the right way but couldn't get to it. From a 1-0 lead and a stadium on edge, Spurs had given Leeds their cushion back.
Kinsky keeps Spurs in it
The save of the night belonged to Antonin Kinsky. A Leeds corner found Joe Rodon at the back post and the defender powered a low header that looked to have crossed the line before Kinsky reached behind himself and clawed it away. Without that stop the Tottenham scoreboard could have read very differently, and the relegation arithmetic with it.
Leeds, mathematically safe and playing without that pressure, looked the more composed side after the goal. Spurs had moments in the closing 20 minutes but never enough sustained territory to threaten a winner.
What the draw does to the relegation table
The point keeps Tottenham two points clear of West Ham, who lost at home to Arsenal on Sunday. Spurs face Chelsea and Everton in their final two games. West Ham travel to Newcastle and then host Leeds, and they need at least one of those results to swing if they are going to climb out of the bottom three.
Spurs have been here before this season and clung on. The margin is thinner now than it was in March, and the calendar is shorter, but Tel's curler and Kinsky's save bought Tottenham one more weekend on the right side of the line.
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