Tottenham beat ten-man Leeds with thrilling second half comeback

Rodrigo Bentancur scored twice in two minutes to give Tottenham Hotspur a stunning 4-3 win over Leeds United on Saturday.

Jesse Marsch’s men were leading 3-2 over the hosts with ten minutes left before Bentancur’s brace secured three points for the home side.

Leeds were the architect of their own downfall, with some calamitous defending as they were unable to hold on to their lead with ten minutes left.

See Saw Game

It was Leeds who started the better off the two sides, with Crysencio Summerville opening the scoresheet in the eight minute after having been set up by Brenden Aaronson, who rolled past Pierre-Emile Hojberg to set up his Dutch teammate.

Summerville, rightfully obliged, holding off Eric Dier with a deft footed finish, his fourth goal in as many games for the traveling side.

Leeds should have been 2-0 up had Summerville kept his cool to slot past Lloris shortly after, but the French goalkeeper stood firm and made himself big to thwart the effort.

Harry Kane equalized in the 25^th minute, a goal that Leeds would feel hard done by after Clement Lenglet barged into Illan Meslier but VAR let it stand to send the home fans into delirium.

Dejan Kulusevski should have put Spurs ahead minutes later, but Meslier denied the Swede with a big save.

It was Leeds however who took the lead with Rodrigo Moreno unleashing an unstoppable volley past Lloris two minutes before the break.

A big team talk was exactly what Antonio Conte needed, and his men came out stronger of the two sides with left back Ben Davies leveling the score with a fine effort from the edge of the penalty box, that ricocheted off defender Rasmus Kristensen into the back of the net.

Leeds however looked the better of two sides, stringing passes with ease and keeping possession at will and thoroughly deserved the lead when Rodrigo, scored again in the 76th minute with a fine left footed finish to give Leeds the lead for a third time in what was turning out to be a thrilling encounter.

The only question was whether the traveling side could hold on for a famous win.

And yet again, Leeds were undone with poor defending. Bentancur rifled home unmarked inside the penalty box with nine minutes left.

Two minutes later, Dejan Kulusevski cut up the Leeds defense with a darting run, and after dribbling past a tired Robin Koch to setup Bentancur who slotted home with ease giving Spurs a 4-3 lead.

Defensive Woes for Leeds

Leeds were on the winning side of the same score-line a week back against Bournemouth however it appeared that they repeated their mistakes once again in defense. Thus a promising afternoon soon tuned dull with Tyler Adams receiving his second yellow and marching orders from the referee after holding back Yves Bissouma to stop a Spurs counterattack.

As we break for the World Cup, Tottenham rise into third place with the win with 29 points after 14 games. However, manager Antonio Conte would be hoping his team start games on the front foot to avoid coming back from deficits.

For Leeds though, after two wins on the trot, its back to the drawing board as Jesse Marsch will be left frustrated and will be pondering how to fix his fragile back four.

Photo credit: IMAGO / Sportimage