Tottenham were unable to make good on a wealth of possession as they fell to a 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest in which Djed Spence was sent off against his former team.
The only goal of the game came in the first half when Anthony Elanga converted from Morgan Gibbs-White’s pass.
Tottenham saw a lot of the ball but did little with it, and matters got worse late on when Radu Dragusin went off injured and Spence was shown a second yellow card in injury time.
Dom Smith was on hand to rate the Tottenham players’ performances…
Fraser Forster 6
Good save to block from Morgan Gibbs-White’s follow-up in the second half.
Djed Spence 5
Was full of energy, offering overlapping and looking to go beyond players. But shown two yellows and earned Tottenham’s first Premier League red card of the season.
Radu Dragusin 6
Made some important blocks, including one sliding interception. But yellow carded and needed to get tighter to Nikola Milenkovic from a corner. Subbed late on and may well have added to Tottenham’s raft of injuries at centre-back.
Archie Gray 6
Played some intelligent passes into midfield as he tried to get Spurs up the pitch.
Left too much space for Elanga to open the scoring. Not his best performance.
Rodrigo Bentancur 5
Usually a lot more influential. Perhaps a sign of rustiness given just how long he has been out.
Pape Matar Sarr 6
A handy route out of their own half for Tottenham, who trusted Sarr to run at ball down the pitch. Joined in with a few attacks too.
Brennan Johnson 6
Would have equalised against his former team but for a super save from Matz Sels. Plucked the ball down beautifully and forced another Sels stop in the second half.
Dejan Kulusevski 6
Tried to make things happen for his team. His five-game scoring run came to an end.
Son Heung-min 4
One limp effort on goal in the first five minutes was Son’s only involvement of note. Another weak display from the South Korean.
Dominic Solanke 5
Scored a hat-trick at the City Ground on his last visit there, with Bournemouth. Not even remotely close, this time.
Subs:
James Maddison (Sarr, 64’) 4
One shot wildly over the bar. Looked rusty.
Lucas Bergvall (Bentancur, 64’) 5
Misplaced a few long passes but was bright.
Pedro Porro (Destiny Udogie, 81’) N/A
Timo Werner (Son, 81’) N/A
Yves Bissouma (Dragusin, 87’) N/A
Not used: Austin, Reguilon, Olusesi, Lankshear
