Harry Kane’s late penalty rescued Tottenham Hotspur as they twice had to come back to draw at struggling Norwich on a night of controversy.
A stunning VAR decision, ruling out a goal by Teemu Pukki while Norwich led 1-0, hindered the home side and ultimately they had to settle for a point despite a gusty display.
Jose Mourinho, the Spurs manager, had watched his side’s defense implode twice on the way to conceding goals. Mourinho’s men had originally produced a series of errors to allow Mario Vrancic to give Norwich the lead.
The visitors were then lucky when Pukki had his effort ruled out when his upper body was deemed to be in an offside position, while his feet were not. It was an eyebrow-raising interpretation of what can be defined as an offside and a pivotal moment in the game.
Norwich’s frustrations were compounded when Christian Eriksen’s deflected free-kick drew Spurs level.
There was a let-off for the home side though when Jamal Lewis was booked rather than being sent off for a handball – and then a terrible own goal by Serge Aurier gave the relegation battlers the lead again. Spurs persisted though and eventually salvaged a draw.
Mourinho had helped Spurs to improve their away form but this was a night that proved to be another reality check despite character shown to take the point. The Spurs manager had said before the game that “it’s a crime” that his team were playing football again, within 150 hours of taking on Brighton on Boxing Day – and many off his players fell short.
Spurs are now without a clean sheet in 35 Premier League away fixtures. Norwich are also too shaky though, having gone without a clean sheet in their last 17 at Carrow Road in the top flight, but this was an encouraging night for them.
Mourinho remodelled his team, with suspensions limiting his options, and started with a back-line of Juan Foyth, Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen in a 3-5-2 system.
Foyth, Eriksen, Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso were all brought into the starting line-up, replacing Davinson Sanchez, Harry Winks, Moussa Sissoko and Lucas Moura.
Norwich manager Daniel Farke also produced an intriguing selection with Todd Cantwell on the bench – and, before kick-off, they were put under more pressure in their fight against relegation due to resurgent Watford’s win earlier in the day.
There was a tribute of applause to the late Martin Peters, who played for both clubs, then the teams – including Kane making his 200 th Premier League appearance – made a competitive start to the game.
Spurs’ defense was almost breached in the 16 Marco Stiepermann skipped through into a dangerous position but his low, toe-poked strike was pushed away well by goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga.
After that scare, Mourinho’s men soon came close themselves on the counter-attack as Kane charged forward and slipped the ball right for Dele Alli, who struck over from yards. By his standards, it was a wasteful finish.
Kane was also frustrated when he had a strike thwarted by Norwich goalkeeper Tim Krul, after the England striker had been picked out by Alderweireld’s long ball. Mourinho was left looking glum when Norwich punished those misses for the first time by taking advantage of poor spurs defending to go 1-0 up.
Foyth was dispossessed by Emi Buendia, who then found Vrancic, who was around 90 yards from goal . The Norwich midfielder advanced to the edge of the 18 – yard box, with space open in front of him, and produced a shot that Gazzaniga could not keep out, only helping it in with his right hand.
Cheap surrendering of possession – this time by Aurier – almost cost Spurs again, when Vrancic played a long ball to Pukki, who controlled the ball on his chest then fired in – only for the strike to be ruled out by VAR for offside against the Norwich striker, stunning many in the ground, due to how tight the call was. There have been many controversial moments created by the VAR system but this was up there among the most debatable.
“It’s not football any more” chanted the frustrated Norwich fans after the call to rule the goal out and there was more anger directed at the officials as they left the field at the half-time whistle.
Mourinho took action at the break by taking off the unimpressive Foyth and Vertonghen – replacing them with Sanchez and Moura, with the latter quickly making an impact on the game.
Spurs made a more encouraging start to the second period as Eriksen delivered a slick pass for Alli who ventured into a dangerous area but was eventually denied by a crucial tackle from Christoph Zimmermann. The Norwich defender was hurt in the process but it was well worth the effort.
Some controversy was just around the corner again though when Lewis handled a delivery from Moura. Lewis was only booked rather than being sent off, much to the disbelief of Spurs players, with Kane holding his head in his hands.
Eriksen profited from the free-kick though, curling the ball in to equalise. The strike took a touch off the wall, meaning that Krul could not stop it hitting the net.
Spurs were next to be frustrated by an offside decision as Alli lofted the ball in subtly and had his effort disallowed – but, on occasion, the decision was far more justifiable.
Norwich promptly regained the lead from more dire Spurs defending. Pukki could not control the ball at the end of a Norwich attack and lost control of it – but Aurier then comically diverted the ball beyond his own goalkeeper to put the home team back into the lead. It was then a rearguard action for Norwich as they invited pressure on to themselves. There was fighting spirit on show from Farke’s team but a sense that they might struggle to hold out for the rest of the game.
Spurs were then granted their chance to level when Kane was brought down by Zimmermann, leading to the striker taking the resultant spot-kick and his cool shot – his 150 th league goal – spared Mourinho’s blushes.
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