Our unbeaten away run which stretched back to October ended but Albion can consider themselves very unfortunate not to come away from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium unrewarded.
Albion had two goals disallowed after intervention by the VAR and also hit the post before Harry Kane grabbed the winner with a clinical finish 11 minutes from time.
Heung-Min Son had given Spurs an early lead with a brilliant strike from outside the box but when Lewis Dunk powered in a header from a corner to celebrate his 200th Premier League appearance in style it was no more than Albion deserved. Moises Caicedo had hit the post and Kaoru Mitoma had a goal disallowed for a marginal handball.
Albion were denied again in the second half by the VAR, who ruled that Danny Welbeck's shot had taken a deflection off Alexis Mac Allister on its way past Hugo Lloris. Mitoma then appeared to be fouled by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the box but this time the VAR did not intervene.
The game got stretched in the closing stages and Kane pounced with a precise strike from the edge of the box 11 minutes from time. It was harsh on Albion who had contributed to an often fiesty affair which saw both Roberto De Zerbi and his Spurs’ counterpart Cristian Stellini both shown a red card midway through the second half.
Albion had been on top when the game started three minutes late because of a mic malfunction involving referee Stuart Attwell and it needed Eric Dier to make a timely clearance in front of his own goal when Mitoma stabbed a corner from Pascal Gross goalwards. Albion then appealed for a penalty against Hojbjerg for handball, but the referee waved play on.
Spurs landed the opening blow in some style in the tenth minute. Son collected possession 20 yards out took a touch inside then curled a fantastic right-foot shot past Jason Steele and in off the far post. Even the Albion fans behind the goal would have admired the quality of the South Korean’s 100th Premier League goal.
Joel Veltman got across and did just enough to prevent Harry Kane from getting a clean strike on goal before Albion thought they’d equalised in the 17th minute. Mitoma controlled Mac Allister’s chipped pass from the right and hooked it inside the right-hand post with his right foot. The assistant flagged that Mitoma had controlled it with his upper arm rather than his chest and after a lengthy VAR check the goal was ruled out. It looked a marginal decision at best.
But it was further evidence that Albion were growing into the game. After a series of passes on the edge of the D, Mac Allister worked some space for a right-foot shot from 22 yards that Lloris needed to push away at full stretch. Albion won the ball back and Caicedo’s effort from a similar distance was athletically tipped onto the inside of the post by Lloris.
Albion had dominated since going behind and on 33 minutes they deservedly drew level from a well-worked set-piece. March floated a corner to the back of the six-yard box where Dunk had peeled away into space to power a header back across goal and inside the far corner.
Pedro Porro went close to restoring Spurs’ lead when he stretched to reach Ivan Perisic’s cross but the ball landed on the roof of the net, the last action of a pulsating first half.
Steele had been fairly untroubled but he made a good save low to his right six minutes after the break from Perisic’s volley before another VAR intervention left Albion frustrated. March found Welbeck and he cut inside to drill a low shot past Lloris. But the deflection that beat the keeper had come off Mac Allister’s arm and a second Albion goal was disallowed.
Moments later several members of both technical staffs came together after the rival head coaches had exchanged words. Attwell eventually showed both De Zerbi and Stellini a red card after consulting the fourth official Jeremy Simpson.
Kane had been kept relatively quiet but he lifted a good chance over the bar before Dejan Kulusevski stretched his legs down the right and fired across Steele and wide of the far post. At the other end Joel Veltman met March’s inswinging free kick from the right with a meaty header which dropped a yard wide of the post.
With 20 minutes to go the game was in the balance although there was widespread disbelief among Albion fans when Hojbjerg appeared to tread on Mitoma’s foot in the box, but there was not even a VAR check.
Instead Kane restored Spurs’ lead with 11 minutes to go. Hojbjerg broke down the right from Son’s pass and the Dane pulled the ball back to the edge of the box where the England captain slammed a right-foot shot, which appeared to take a deflection off Veltman, past the helpless Steele.
Albion pushed for an equaliser in the six added minutes but Tottenham clung on. A disappointing result but there was much to admire in the performance, as the Albion fans recognised when they gave the players a standing ovation at full-time.
Albion: Steele, Veltman (Enciso 85), Dunk, Colwill (Webster 69), Estupinan, Gross, Caicedo, March, Mac Allister, Mitoma, Welbeck (Ferguson 66).
Subs: Sanchez, Undav, Ayari, Gilmour, van Hecke, Buonanotte.
Referee: Stuart Attwell