Tottenham 2-1 Swansea City: Spurs keep title hopes alive with comeback win

Posted Monday, February 29, 2016 by Goal.com

Tottenham 2-1 Swansea City: Spurs keep title hopes alive with comeback win
Lukas Fabianski was in peerless form as the hosts were frustrated until substitute Nacer Chadli cancelled out Alberto Paloschi's opener and Danny Rose claimed all three points

Goals from Nacer Chadli and Danny Rose saw Tottenham come from behind again in the Premier League to beat Swansea City 2-1 at White Hart Lane and maintain their title push.

Mauricio Pochettino's side have now recovered a league-high 17 points from losing positions this season, as two goals in the final 20 minutes secured all three points on Sunday.

Spurs found themselves behind after Alberto Paloschi netted his first Swansea goal in the 19th minute, the Italian reacting fastest to beat Hugo Lloris.

Tottenham's efforts to get back into the game saw former Arsenal goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski produce a number of fine saves to maintain Swansea's lead, but eventually he was beaten.

Chadli turned Kyle Walker's low shot past the Pole to bring the hosts level in the 70th minute before Rose put them ahead for the first time in the match with a low strike.

Victory sees Tottenham close the gap on leaders Leicester City back to two points and move three clear of Arsenal – who were beaten 3-2 by Manchester United – while Swansea remain three points clear of the bottom three in 16th.

Swansea made a bright start and should have taken the lead after three minutes, former Spurs midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson seeing his close-range effort superbly pushed over by Lloris from Paloschi's pull-back.

Tottenham responded immediately as Erik Lamela found space inside the Swansea six-yard box, his flicked effort from Rose's cross looping over Fabianski's crossbar.

The hosts continued to press and saw Harry Kane – wearing a mask to protect his broken nose after missing Tottenham's Europa League win over Fiorentina – denied by a low save from Fabianski.

Despite Tottenham's pressure it was the visitors who broke the deadlock as Paloschi opened his Premier League account, the Italian pouncing after Leon Britton's shot had deflected off Jack Cork.

The goal prompted Tottenham to lay siege to the goal of Fabianski, who kept the hosts at bay with a string of fine saves.

Having dived full-length to keep out Christian Eriksen's free-kick the Pole was on hand again to deny Son Heung-min and Eric Dier – the latter with a remarkable close-range stop – before the break.

Fabianski's personal battle to maintain Swansea's lead continued after the restart as he clawed away another Eriksen set-piece, before diverting a swerving effort from Kane for a corner.

Just before the hour Eriksen managed to evade the goalkeeper's grasp but his free-kick whistled agonisingly wide as frustrations began to build inside White Hart Lane.

Rose was also denied by the keeper, but from the resulting corner Fabianski was finally beaten, Chadli diverting home Walker's cross seven minutes after replacing Lamela.

Tottenham kept the pressure on Swansea's goal and the strugglers buckled with 13 minutes left as Rose found room to lash home his first of the season.

Paloschi nearly snatched a point for the visitors in the final 10 minutes but Lloris was alert at his front post as Tottenham – who saw a late Walker effort ruled out for offside – moved back to within touching distance of Leicester.