Fernando Llorente's blushes were spared, as Tottenham recovered from his early own goal to grab a stunning last-gasp 2-1 victory over lowly Fulham in the English Premier League at Craven Cottage on Monday (NZ time).
The Spanish striker, starting in place of the injured Harry Kane, put past his keeper Hugo Lloris in the 14th minute, but Dele Alli's second-half header levelled it up and Harry Winks headed home seconds from the end of stoppage time.
The result meant injury-hit Tottenham opened up a four-point gap over fourth-placed Chelsea, and restored their seven-point advantage over Arsenal and Manchester United.
Until Winks's late intervention, the story looked set to be all about Llorente's struggles, after he was given a rare league start in the absence of injured talisman Kane.
Not only did his clumsy clearance put his side behind, but he also missed a golden late chance to give Spurs the lead.
Luckily for him, Alli headed in Christian Eriksen's delivery in the 51st minute and with Tottenham's first draw of the season looming, substitute Georges-Kevin N'koudou's superb cross allowed Winks to head past Fulham keeper Sergio Rico for his first goal in more than two years.
Defeat left Fulham seven points behind 17th-placed Newcastle and facing an increasingly difficult task to avoid the drop.
Earlier, Manchester City barely got out of second gear, as they easily beat bottom club Huddersfield to close the gap on table-toppers Liverpool to four points.
Danilo's deflected shot gave City the lead in an opening half in which they were not at their sharpest.
Pep Guardiola's side upped the tempo early in the second half and Raheem Sterling headed in their second goal in the 54th minute, before Leroy Sane made it 3-0 two minutes later.
City's fourth consecutive win took them to 56 points from 23 games with Liverpool on 60, after they beat Crystal Palace on Saturday 4-3.
Toothless Huddersfield, who had caretaker boss Mark Hudson in charge for the first time, have only 11 points and are 10 points behind Newcastle, who are 17th.
Reuters
