Tottenham may have secured their first Premier League win of 2026, but their relegation fears remain after positive results elsewhere for their rivals at the bottom of the table.
Tottenham Hotspur picked up a vital victory against already-relegated Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday to help their chance of escaping the dreaded drop into the Championship.
João Palhinha’s 82nd-minute goal won all three points for the north London club in a poor match, giving Tottenham their first Premier League win of 2026 and ended an awful 15-game winless streak in the competition.
The Portuguese midfielder’s goal looked like clawing Spurs out of the relegation zone on goal difference, but an added-time winner for West Ham at home to Everton means that their victory wasn’t enough to take them out of the bottom three this weekend.
It was a slow, cagey first half with Tottenham failing to take the game to their hosts despite Wolves having nothing to play for.
Spurs’ wretched luck with injuries continued midway through the first half, when striker Dominic Solanke went down clutching his knee and was forced off. The England international, who has only played 20 competitive matches for Spurs this season, could well have played his final game in 2025-26.
Only minutes later, a largely uneventful first half saw a heated incident involving Wolves’ André and Tottenham midfielder Yves Bissouma. The Brazilian midfielder flew into a challenge with Bissouma, which looked to have been dangerous and two-footed, but he escaped without a card.
It was a nervy first half, and neither Wolves nor Tottenham produced a shot on target at Molineux, with it just the 10th half of football in the Premier League this season without a single attempt on target.
As news of relegation rivals West Ham taking the lead at home to Everton spread around the stands at Molineux, Spurs’ afternoon got even worst just before the hour mark. Xavi Simons was the latest Spurs player to suffer injury and had to exit the pitch after twisting his knee in a challenge on the byline.
Roberto De Zerbi’s side didn’t manage a single shot on target in this match until the 69th minute, but when it arrived it was the closest either side had come to opening the scoring. Rodrigo Bentancur’s bullet header from a corner was kept out by José Sá.
Tottenham had another chance just 10 minutes from time, but Pedro Porro’s cross into the box was diverted away from Richarlison by the slightest of touches from Matt Doherty’s head when the Brazilian looked excellently placed to convert.
But Spurs kept knocking and eventually grabbed a huge goal in their quest from survival when substitute Palhinha slid the ball into the net from close range after Richarlison poked a ball through to him.
Before that goal, Spurs’ chance of relegation had risen as high as 71.4% with the Opta supercomputer. Palhinha’s goal, coupled with Everton’s equaliser at West Ham just moments later, saw that chance reduce to 42.5%. But Callum Wilson’s last winner for West Ham means that Tottenham remain in the relegation zone and now have a 60.2% chance of the drop with four matchdays left to play.
Tottenham are only one of six ever-present teams in the Premier League since its inaugural season in 1992-93. They did their job today, securing a much-needed victory in their battle to stay in the top-flight, but with a two-point gap to safety and this the easiest of their remaining games on paper, that run still looks more likely to come to an end that not.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Wolves vs Tottenham stats from their Premier League meeting at Molineux Stadium on Saturday 25 April 2026.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Wolves 0-1 Tottenham Post-Match Facts
- Post-match facts coming soon.
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