Tottenham's draw with Sheffield United dominated by VAR

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:19 am

VAR played a major role in Tottenham Hotspur's 1-1 draw with Sheffield United on Saturday as the north London club's winless run in the Premier League was extended to five games after George Baldock cancelled out Son Heung-Min's opener.

The home side were seeking their first league victory since Sept. 28, which marked the last time United had tasted defeat in the league, and were forced onto the back foot from the first whistle.

While Tottenham entered the fixture 11th in the table, the visitors held sixth place and they played like a side worthy of that position, testing Paulo Gazzaniga immediately before rattling the goalkeeper's post through John Lundstram in a dominant opening 30 minutes.

The hosts grew into the game, however, and had their fair of chances to break the deadlock. Eventually they opened the scoring through Son on 58 minutes, with the South Korea international capitalising on a Blades error to slide a shot through the legs of Dean Henderson.

United thought they had equalised moments later, but David McGoldrick's strike was ruled out for offside after a lengthy VAR check.

Fifteen minutes later it was nearly deja vu for the visitors as they were forced to endure another check by VAR after Baldock found the net, but this time the equaliser stood.

Tottenham piled on the pressure in added time, but could not find the winning goal, meaning they will have to wait until after the international break to earn their first league win since September.

"When you don't win you are disappointed, and it's impossible to be happy," Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino said after the match.

"We didn't start the game well. We knew we were up against an energetic, well-organised team, probably the worst kind of team after a long trip in the Champions League.

"The last 15 minutes we dominated, but from the beginning we suffered a lot."

Meanwhile, United coach Chris Wilder was full of praise for his team.

I'm proud of the players, the performance, and I thought we took the game to the opposition from the off," he said.

"I believe we were the better side today."