Tottenham failed to finish the job against Brighton on Saturday, taking a 78th minute lead through Xavi Simons, only to give up an equaliser five minutes into stoppage time. Georginio Rutter was able to take advantage of a Kevin Danso error at the back, and the draw means Spurs remain in the relegation zone despite playing before relegation rivals West Ham and Nottingham Forest.
Roberto De Zerbi is left still searching for his first win as Tottenham boss, and there will be pressure aplenty for him to get it against bottom club Wolves next time out. The remaining fixtures get much more tricky after that game, so it's one Tottenham are going to have to tick off.
First will come the inquest into Saturday's late heartbreaker, though it was pretty clear that Danso was to blame for the equaliser, and the centre-back knew it, collapsing to the floor after seeing his mistake punished.
Danso will learn from the mistake, but it doesn't help Tottenham, who could have done with a statement home win. Still, there were some positives to take from the performance, and the display delivered by Xavi Simons was one of them.
Simons scored what should have been the winner, and he has been one of the standout Spurs players this season. But former Tottenham player Les Ferdinand was not impressed with Simons' celebrations after his goal.
He told Sky Sports: "It was a great second goal by Xavi Simons, but the celebrations... I looked at Daws [Michael Dawson] and I said '78 minutes, there's still a long way to go'. You need concentration."
Xavi Simons is not to blame
In truth, it's a cheap criticism of Simons, who did his part in scoring what should have been the winner. As an attacker, when you score in the 78th minute, you expect it to be the winner, and you can hardly blame a player for celebrating as though it is going to be.
It was a defensive error from Danso that led to the two points slipping away, and not any lack of concentration from Simons. It's easy to criticise in hindsight, when you already know there has been an equaliser, but nothing would have been said had Tottenham gone on to win the game.
You want players who are fully bought in, and as a fan, you want to see how much it means to players when they score or play well, especially in the thick of a relegation battle, so Simons can keep his head held high here, even with his celebrations now looking premature.
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