FEEL THE BURN
Burnley 1 Tottenham 0: Antonio Conte’s side crash back to earth days after Man City heroics after Ben Mee winner
THE Great Escape is on for Burnley after skipper Ben Mee nodded in a second half winner.
The Clarets centre back got above Cristian Romero to head home Josh Brownhill’s free-kick and secure back-to-back wins.
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And on a miserable night in East Lancashire, he took the wind out of Tottenham’s sails – just four days after their sensational win down the M66 at Manchester City.
Facing the champions and beating them in their own back yard is one thing. But this was a very different challenge against Sean Dyche’s improving Burnley.
If the Clarets are to be relegated then they are not going to go quietly and they raised their hopes with an outstanding win at Brighton at the weekend.
They have taken points off Arsenal and Manchester United recently – while also giving Liverpool a tricky afternoon.
So Antonio Conte knew it could be a tricky night – and how right he was.
Tottenham have been here before this season – former boss Nuno Espirito Santo managed a win here in the Carabao Cup just days before he was sacked.
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However this was not the sort of night Spurs would relish – with the rain pouring down – just as it seems to every home game right now.
Midfielder Brownhill had suggested in his interviews pre match that southern teams might not fancy Turf Moor in February.
And you couldn’t escape that feeling early on – although Harry Kane saw a cross shot deflected into the side-netting by James Tarkowski.
This has been a lucky venue for the England ace in the past – he scored a hat-trick here in a 3-0 win in December 2017.
But he did not get much service in the first half – often dropping deep to try to get his team moving.
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Brownhill tried a volley from the edge of the box that was comfortably saved by skipper Hugo Lloris – in what turned out to be the only effort on target in the first half.
Cristian Romero poked an effort wide while Emerson Royal sliced one well off target after some nice work by Kane.
The Three Lions ace was looking for a penalty when Brownhill bumped into him just inside the box as they both went for a header but ref Graham Scott was not impressed.
Conte can’t have been impressed with what he saw from his team in the opening 45 minutes either as they had more purpose after the break.
The victory at the Etihad had revived their hopes of sneaking into the top four – but this is the kind of game they need to win if they are to do it.
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Kane came within a whisker of giving them the lead as he got above Ben Mee and his header from Son Heung-Min’s free-kick beat Nick Pope but crashed back off the bar.
Half time sub Harry Winks – who had replaced new boy Rodrigo Bentancur - sent in a cross that was scrambled away.
But the visitors had clearly upped the tempo since the re-start.
Even so Burnley got a sight of goal when Dwight McNeil’s free-kick was nodded down by Mee but there was nobody there to tap home.
At the other end, some pinball in the box saw Royal pull the ball back for Ben Davies but the Welshman’s shot was pushed away by Pope at his near post.
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The game had now opened up and Lloris had to make a smart save to keep out a bullet header from Jay Rodriguez.
Spurs picked up the loose ball and broke through Kane and Son feeding the ball out to Dejan Kulusevski who rolled a shot inches wide of Pope’s far post.
And what a key moment it proved to be. With their next attack Burnley won a free-kick on the right.
Brownhill sent a swirling free-kick to the back post where Mee got above Romero and thumped a header into the far corner.
A captain’s goal from the skipper who celebrated 10 years as a Burnley player earlier this month.
He turned provider soon afterwards when his cross shot was somehow poked over the bar by Rodriguez with the goal at his mercy.
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Subs Steven Bergwijn and Lucas Moura both had late chances to salvage a point but it wasn’t enough from Spurs.
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Their top four hopes have once again hit the buffers.
Meanwhile several teams at the bottom including Brentford, Leeds and Everton will now be looking nervously over their shoulders.
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