West Ham have battled back from three goals down late in the second half to rescue a Premier League point in a stunning comeback against Tottenham.
Manuel Lanzini's brilliant long-range strike in injury time has secured a draw for West Ham, in a match headlined by Gareth Bale's return to Tottenham after a seven-year absence.
With Bale on the substitutes bench, Tottenham started in sensational fashion, with Son Heung-min scoring inside a minute and Harry Kane twice, as the hosts led 3-0 after 16 minutes.
On loan from Real Madrid, Welshman Bale came off the bench in the 71st minute, but instead of a glorious introduction, West Ham ripped up the script with a stupendous fight back.
Fabian Balbuena's 82nd minute header and Davinson Sanchez's own goal gave West Ham hope. Bale almost scored his side's fourth, but West Ham's Manuel Lanzini struck a wonder-goal deep in stoppage time to earn his side an unlikely point.
"It was one of those special moments in football," says West Ham midfielder Declan Rice. "They dropped off in the second half and didn't try to kill the game, and once we got one back, we had the belief we could get a draw or a win."
Victory would have put Tottenham up into second place, but they are now in sixth place, with West Ham eighth.
The come-from-behind draw was just the third time in Premier League history that a side trailing by at least three goals going into the 80th minute had avoided defeat - the other times were West Bromwich Albion's comeback to draw 5-5 against Manchester United in 2013 and Norwich City's 4-4 draw with Middlesbrough in 2005.
Earlier, substitute Alexis Mac Allister scored his first Premier League goal to secure Brighton & Hove Albion a deserved point in a 1-1 draw away at arch-rivals Crystal Palace.
Palace were without Ghana striker Jordan Ayew, who missed the match, after testing positive for COVID-19 on his return from international duty.
Sheffield United and Fulham also played out a 1-1 draw, as both sides secured their first point of the season.
Elsewhere, Aston Villa remain unbeaten this season, after their 1-0 win over Leicester City.
Meanwhile, Liverpool centre back Virgil van Dijk has damaged knee ligaments and is set to undergo surgery, after he was injured during the Merseyside derby draw against Everton.
Reuters
