Wolves punished a series of Tottenham mistakes to win 4-2 at Molineux and leave Ange Postecoglou facing a 17th league defeat.
Rayan Ait-Nouri scored after 85 seconds before an own goal and second-half strikes from Jorgen Strand Larsen and Matheus Cunha secured Wolves’ fourth straight win.
Wolves strike inside two minutes
Guglielmo Vicario punched Jean-Ricner Bellegarde’s free-kick into Ait-Nouri’s path, and the left-back drove in the fastest Premier League goal in Wolves’ history.
The hosts doubled their lead in the 38th minute. Ait-Nouri’s deflected cross reached Marshall Munetsi, whose header was saved before the ball rebounded off Djed Spence and into the net.
Mathys Tel pulled one back from Brennan Johnson’s cross after half-time, but Ait-Nouri then beat Cristian Romero and set up Strand Larsen for a simple finish.
Tottenham rally before another error
Richarlison headed in after Romero struck the crossbar, reducing the deficit to 3-2 with five minutes remaining.
Tottenham’s hope lasted less than a minute. Cunha dispossessed Lucas Bergvall and beat Vicario to complete a win that moved Wolves within two points of Spurs.
Postecoglou said his team’s general football had been sound but admitted individual errors made a result almost impossible.
Europa League becomes Tottenham’s escape route
Postecoglou made six changes before the second leg of Tottenham’s Europa League quarter-final against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Dejan Kulusevski, Richarlison and Tel gained minutes as Spurs managed their squad for a tie level at 1-1. Son Heung-min missed the Wolves match but was expected to return.
With their domestic season collapsing, the Europa League had become the clearest route to both a trophy and Champions League qualification for Tottenham.
