Wolves edged closer to Premier League safety after beating Tottenham 4-2 to record four successive top-flight victories for the first time since January 1972.
Rayan Ait-Nouri gave Wolves a flying start at Molineux with his first goal since October and Tottenham’s miserable domestic season was rather summed up when Djed Spence turned into his own goal to leave Ange Postecoglou’s men staring down the barrel at half-time.
Mathys Tel got Spurs back in it just before the hour but in-form Jorgen Strand Larsen soon restored Wolves’ advantage when he made Cristian Romero pay for his mistake with a fifth goal in four games.
Richarlison threatened to set up a grandstand finish when he marked his first appearance since February by making it 3-2 in the 85th minute, but a minute later Matheus Cunha – back after a four-match ban – struck for Wolves to take his tally for the season to 14 and wrap up with win.
Victory lifts Wolves 14 points clear of the relegation zone and to within two points of 15th-placed Spurs, whose defeat was their 17th in the league this season.
Tottenham, who face Eintracht Frankfurt in the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final on Thursday as they look to keep their trophy hopes alive, could hardly have had a worse start at Molineux with the hosts taking the lead inside 85 seconds.
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde’s set-piece delivery was punched out to Ait-Nouri who hit a first-time effort into the ground and past the despairing dive of Guglielmo Vicario, with the goal finally confirmed after a lengthy VAR check.
Wolves should have doubled their advantage almost immediately when Nelson Semedo pounced on a loose pass from Vicario before feeding Larsen, but the Norwegian somehow scuffed wide of the target.
Spurs began to show the threat they also possess with Yves Bissouma rifling in an effort that Jose Sa was alert to beat away as he was called into action for the first time.
The visitors had reacted well to going a goal down and were edging closer to an equaliser, Romero fizzing a pass into Brennan Johnson who fired his snapshot just over the crossbar.
However, for all of Tottenham’s possession, Wolves doubled their lead seven minutes before the break in rather fortunate fashion.
Marshall Munetsi was able to get under a high ball inside the Tottenham box and flash in a free header which needed to be saved by Vicario but the ball bounced off Spence and rolled in.
Spurs halved the deficit in the 59th minute when Semedo completely missed Johnson’s ball across the six-yard box and Tel was ready and waiting to pick up the pieces for his third goal since joining the club earlier this year.
But it only took Vitor Pereira’s hosts five minutes to restore their two-goal advantage when Ait-Nouri forced Romero into giving the ball away and this time turned creator to Strand Larsen who tapped home from close range.
Spurs hit back again when Richarlison nodded in from close range but, once again, Wolves quickly responded.
Cunha, a second-half substitute on his return to action, dispossessed Lucas Bergvall in the middle of the park and expertly tucked his finish into the bottom corner before immediately saluting the Wolves supporters.
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