VAR denies Bournemouth late goal in dreary draw with Spurs

BOURNEMOUTH: Relegation-threatened Bournemouth had a late goal disallowed by VAR as they had to settle for a 0-0 draw at home to Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on Thursday.

Callum Wilson thought he had grabbed a crucial win in Bournemouth’s desperate battle to avoid the drop but his overhead kick was chalked off for handball after the ball hit the arm of Josh King on the way into the net.

Harry Wilson was then denied a stoppage-time winner by Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris as a dreary game sprang to life.

There were more than 10 minutes of stoppage time after Bournemouth’s Adam Smith was carried off on a stretcher in the second half after lengthy treatment for a head injury.

Until the late drama there was precious little excitement with Tottenham only displaying some belated urgency in the second half as they pinned the hosts back.

They were toothless though as for the first time in 186 top-flight matches Bournemouth did not face an attempt on target.

The Cherries at least ended a run of five successive defeats as they moved up a place to 18th, three points adrift of Watford who are just above the relegation zone.

Victory would have lifted Jose Mourinho’s Spurs side to seventh but they are a place and a point below their north London rivals Arsenal in ninth ahead of Sunday’s home derby.

The only incident worth talking about in a dreadful first half was when visiting striker Harry Kane was denied a penalty despite appearing to be pushed in the back by King.

Tottenham sent on Son Heung-min and Tanguy Ndombele at halftime and they offered more threat, with Erik Lamela’s glancing header flying just wide.

Spurs created little else though as they remained on course for their worst league finish since 2008.

Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe took the positives from the result even if it did little for their survival bid.

“When you face attackers like Kane and Son and you keep a clean sheet, you’ve deserved that clean sheet,” he said.

Mourinho’s Zoom press conference was initially halted by connection problems, but he returned to say: “The performance was not good enough, but good enough to win.”

Predictably, the Portuguese aimed fire at VAR over Kane’s first-half penalty claim.

“In the world everybody knows that is a penalty. And when I say everybody, I mean everybody,” he said.

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