Three points at Old Trafford on Sunday and Leicester City will complete one of the most remarkable stories in modern-day English football. After Tottenham slipped up at White Hart Lane on Monday, managing only a 1-1 draw against West Brom, Leicester will be crowned the new English Premier League champions if they beat Manchester United on Sunday.
Needing a win to realistically keep their hopes alive, Spurs stumbled, with their inexperience finally coming to the fore, as the newly-crowned PFA Young Player of the Year – Dele Alli – lost the plot in the process, punching West Brom's midfielder Claudio Yacob, which was missed by the referee on the pitch, but was picked up by the cameras. Alli will now most likely face a charge of violent conduct, which in turn could lead to a three-match ban, which then means an end to the season for the midfielder.
It all looked like going swimmingly well for Spurs, who attacked, attacked and attacked the West Brom backline in the first 45 minutes. After hitting the woodwork twice, courtesy Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen, Tottenham finally opened the scoring via a Crag Dawson own goal after the West Brom defender bundled the ball into his own net on 33 minutes.
If Spurs were expected to take complete charge from there and add a couple of more goals at least, it never happened, as West Brom came out stronger in the second half, leading to those jitters taking hold of the home team.
Suddenly from being dominant, Tottenham became nervy, and with Tony Pulis asking his West Brom players to take advantage, they duly did as the man who scored the own goal fired in a header in the 73rd minute to make it 1-1.
It might have been a lot worse, as West Brom threatened to find the winner, with Spurs struggling to cope with the expectations and pressure.
"You need to kill these games if you want to win the title," Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino was quoted as saying by The Guardian. "It's very disappointing and it's hard, but in football you have to capitalise on the experience. We need to use this experience in the future. This was a game that we must have won.
"We played very well in the first half and we spent a lot of energy when it was only 1-0. In the second half we lost a little bit of the control and allowed them to believe and create chances. When you do not kill the game, you always allow them to believe."
