Tottenham blow top-four chance in defeat by Bournemouth

LONDON, April 15 (Reuters) – Tottenham Hotspur blew a gilt-edged chance to boost their hopes of finishing in the Premier League’s top four as relegation battlers Bournemouth snatched a last-gasp 3-2 away win on Saturday.

Dango Ouattara’s superb finish in the fifth minute of stoppage time sent the south coast club’s fans into raptures and Tottenham’s heading for the exits.

Third-placed Newcastle United’s defeat at Aston Villa opened the door for Tottenham and they duly went ahead in the 14th minute when Son Heung-min fired them into the lead.

Son was soon denied a second by a great save from Bournemouth’s Neto but fifth-placed Tottenham lost their way and a mistake at the back by Pedro Porro was punished as Matias Vina equalised for the south coast side in the 38th minute.

Bournemouth then sent the visiting fans into raptures when Dominic Solanke dinked a close-range finish past Hugo Lloris six minutes after the interval.

Tottenham, who could have gone above fourth-placed Manchester United for 24 hours at least with a win, raised their intensity level and Danjuma’s left-footed effort set up a frantic finale.

But with the hosts searching for a winner, Bournemouth broke away and the ball reached Ouattara who cut in from the left before arrowing a right-foot finish beyond Lloris.

Tottenham remain in fifth place with 53 points from 31 games, three behind Manchester United and Newcastle United who have played 29 and 30 games respectively.

Bouurnemouth’s survival prospects are now looking much rosier as they have 33 points, six points better off than third-from-bottom Nottingham Forest.

Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by David Holmes

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