Spurs weather the storm to send Son away on a high

The more Tottenham change, the more they stay the same.

They tried to make life easy for themselves here, they really did. They scored early and scored late, weathered the long periods of Bournemouth pressure, the occasional scare and a very Tottenham kind of rain: one that came in furious, intense squalls before disappearing entirely for about 20 minutes at a time.

But texturally this was largely the same substance Tottenham have been serving up all season: a spirited but uneven performance in which the fun is basically indistinguishable from the suffering. Pape Sarr scored a fine goal before going off injured; Bournemouth were the better side for much of the first half; Spurs improved markedly in the second, making the points safe through Son Heung-min and Richarlison, and yet still ended the game on the scramble after Alex Scott's two late goals, one legal and one ruled out for offside.

Perhaps this is the logical upshot of a team who play at all times like they're 1-0 down, who have traded in a sense of balance for a sense of purpose. Spurs are not yet good enough to dominate for 90 minutes, not yet deep enough to rotate with comfort, not yet controlled or mature enough to see games out. And so you get these vivid hot streaks of scintillating attacking football, and then these long periods when they are essentially surviving on wishes and crossed fingers. "We had to show some resilience and character," Ange Postecoglou said. "Again, it was a massive physical effort."