Coventry City 1-2 Tottenham: Late Spurs turnaround breaks Sky Blues´ hearts

Tottenham produced an inspired late turnaround to scrape through to the EFL Cup’s fourth round with a narrow 2-1 victory over a spirited Coventry City.

The Championship side took a deserved lead at the Coventry Building Society Arena through Brandon Thomas-Asante, but Djed Spence and Brennan Johnson struck late on to snatch victory from under their noses.

Coventry carried the greater threat during the first half, in which Tottenham failed to register a single shot on goal. Jack Rudoni saw a goalbound shot blocked by Destiny Udogie, while Norman Bassette fired narrowly over from a tight angle soon after.

Spurs then had Ben Davies to thank on the hour mark, when the skipper’s sliding intervention prevented Haji Wright slotting into an empty net following a mix-up between Fraser Forster and Radu Dragusin.

However, the hosts broke through just three minutes later when Thomas-Asante turned in Bassette’s cross from close range.

There was to be a late twist, though. With two minutes remaining, Spence rounded off a fine team move and, with penalties looming, Johnson raced onto Rodrigo Bentancur’s throughball to complete the turnaround in the second minute of stoppage time.

Better late than neverpic.twitter.com/0VaZG08PfW

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) September 18, 2024

Data Debrief: Spurs survive scare to maintain Cov dominance

Coventry were looking to reach the EFL Cup’s fourth round for the first time in 16 years, and were just two minutes away from doing so after an impressive performance against their top-flight opponents.

However, Tottenham’s timely late rally dug the Premier League side out of a hole, and sealed their fifth win in as many meetings between the teams.

Spurs have now progressed from 17 of their last 18 EFL Cup ties against sides from outside the Premier League.