Tottenham keep survival hopes alive with Joao Palhinha’s late winner at Wolves
By George Sessions, Press Association
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.
It momentarily took Tottenham out of the bottom three, but a late winner for West Ham 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.
Onwards 👊 pic.twitter.com/n6bJPoKr78
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) April 25, 2026
Randal Kolo Muani was preferred again by De Zerbi despite one league goal all season, but fired well wide in the 12th minute after a mistake by Andre.
Pedro Porro sent an effort wayward soon after which halted Tottenham’s momentum and Wolves forced two corners in quick succession to lift the Molineux crowd.
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, but was able to start the second half.
The same could not be said for Kolo Muani, who was hooked by De Zerbi, and the Italian should have watched Spurs go ahead in the 51st minute.
Porro brilliantly spread play out wide to Xavi, who cut inside but Matt Doherty got back enough to force the Tottenham attacker to blaze over from eight yards.
Minutes later and Xavi was the next away player to suffer an injury at Molineux after a collision with Hugo Bueno.
Xavi 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.
