Tottenham Hotspur wrote their names into an unwanted page of the Premier League history books with their 2-1 loss to London rivals West Ham United on Thursday evening.
Ange Postecoglou's team welcomed their capital rivals to the north of the city aiming to make amends following a four-game winless run, and they were initially on course to do so.
A fast Tottenham start was rewarded with just 11 minutes on the clock, as Cristian Romero - back from a three-game suspension - notched the game's opening goal with a looping header over Lukasz Fabianski.
However, Tottenham could not convert their first-half dominance into another goal, and the Lilywhites were punished dearly in the second period, where Jarrod Bowen and James Ward-Prowse completed a phenomenal Hammers turnaround.
Bowen firstly capitalised on a pair of ricochets off of Ben Davies and Romero to fire home from a few yards out, before Ward-Prowse struck the post and tapped in the rebound after a poor backpass from Destiny Udogie sold Guglielmo Vicario short.
© Reuters
Tottenham's crushing defeat marked a fourth loss from five games for Postecoglou's outfit, who had previously taken the lead against Aston Villa, Chelsea and Wolverhampton Wanderers only to lose all three.
In addition, Spurs drew first blood versus Manchester City only to come away with a point, meaning that Tottenham are now the first side in Premier League history to score the opener in five successive games and not win any of them.
Furthermore, the Lilywhites are also the first Premier League team to suffer three straight home defeats after holding a 1-0 lead, and captain Son Heung-min implored his teammates to take responsibility for their "unacceptable" collapses.
"Deserved better or not means nothing, we lost the game. It is unacceptable. You are winning. Losing that game I think is unacceptable. As a player [we] should take responsibility," the Tottenham captain told Amazon Prime.
"They are tough to play against but we knew what was coming. 1-0 is not enough, you have to try and win the game. It is unacceptable. The fans do not deserve this.
© Reuters
"When you go 1-0 up early you should bring more energy and play with more energy but we didn't and that is why we lost. When you have the chances to kill the game you have to play better.
"We lost the game, we have to move on and bounce back. Attacking players should feel responsibility because we had chances to kill the game. I know it is very sad for the fans and disappointed. As a group we want to bounce back as soon as possible."
On the other side of the coin, Bowen's equaliser for West Ham saw the England international score away from home for the seventh Premier League game running; only Robin van Persie (nine) and Sergio Aguero (seven) have also strung together such a sequence.
Tottenham's fifth-placed standing in the Premier League table was not impacted by Thursday's loss, but the Lilywhites missed the chance to go level on points and are nine worse off than leaders Arsenal.
Postecoglou's side have two days to dust themselves down before they welcome fellow Champions League outsiders Newcastle United to North London on Sunday afternoon.
Ben Knapton
