Joao Palhinha’s 82nd-minute tap-in earned Tottenham a first Premier League win of 2026 with a 1-0 victory at Wolves but they remain in the relegation zone.
Spurs looked set for a painful afternoon at Molineux after Dominic Solanke and Xavi Simons were forced off due to injury until Roberto De Zerbi watched Palhinha slide in at the back post from a scuffed Richarlison shot to secure a first league success in 16 matches.
After ending that winless streak in the Premier League, Tottenham match-winner Palhinha told BBC Sport: "Hopefully it changes something.
"This victory is much more than that for me, the fans, and the whole club. It’s not a normal season that we have been living until today. We all have responsibility in this season."
Palhinha's goal momentarily took Tottenham out of the bottom three, but a late winner for West Ham United at Everton has kept the gap to two points with only four games left.
Wolves’ relegation was confirmed on Monday night and a Spurs team desperate not to join them started strongly before Solanke had half-hearted penalty appeals waved away after a slight push by Hugo Bueno.
Solanke blocked a volley by Rodrigo Gomes’ soon after and it sparked the visitors back into life, with Xavi Simons firing wide after good work by Rodrigo Bentancur.
However, the North London club’s injury curse struck again with eight minutes of a drab first half left when Solanke went down and held the back of his left leg.
Solanke was forced off and Yves Bissouma looked set to endure the same fate when he was caught by a strong tackle from Andre Gomes, but was able to start the second half.
Xavi was the next away player to suffer an injury at Molineux after a collision with Hugo Bueno.
The Dutch playmaker immediately dropped to the floor and even though he returned to his feet, he collapsed after a run down the touchline off the pitch and a stretcher was subsequently required.
With West Ham ahead at home to Everton, Spurs were now four points from safety and Antonin Kinsky had to be alert to beat Adam Armstrong to a loose ball before the visitors found a second wind.
A snapshot by Tel was deflected wide and Porro’s resulting corner found Rodrigo Bentancur, but Jose Sa made a flying save with 21 minutes left.
Armstrong headed over next for Wolves and then, as Tottenham’s away support tried to rally their team, the breakthrough followed in the 82nd minute.
Tel won a corner after he chased down a lost cause and Porro’s delivery dropped for Richarlison, who watched his scuffed effort turned in by Palhinha at the back post.
Palhinha charged off into the Spurs fans and news soon filtered through that Everton had equalised at West Ham.
Tottenham were briefly set to go out of the bottom three but celebrations by Wolves fans signalled a late winner at London Stadium and De Zerbi was indebted to Kinsky for a stunning one-handed save from a Joao Gomes free-kick in stoppage time to secure a much-needed three points.
West Ham 'in the driving seat'
Callum Wilson grabbed a priceless stoppage-time winner as West Ham kept their heads above the relegation zone with a 2-1 victory over Everton.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s late equaliser, which cancelled out Tomas Soucek’s header, looked to have swung the survival battle Tottenham’s way moments after they had taken the lead at Wolves.
It was a goal which briefly dropped West Ham below Spurs and back into the bottom three.
But substitute Wilson, who had scored eight goals in his previous seven appearances against Everton, struck two minutes into time added on to keep the Hammers two places above their London rivals.
It was a hammer blow for David Moyes, making his first return to the London Stadium since he left two summers ago and on his 63rd birthday.
The reunion brought up his 750th match as a Premier League boss, but their bid to qualify for Europe took a dent with a dramatic late defeat.
Matchwinner Wilson told BBC Sport: "We're the ones in the driving seat at the moment and if we take care of our own results it should stand us in good stead come the end of the season.
"When the goal went in it was a feeling of frustration, but when the eight minutes of added time went up I wanted to go and get that winning goal.
"The lads are buzzing. You do ultimately look at other results, we knew they [Tottenham] were playing a game in which they were the favourites, so we had to do our job."
