Richarlison achieves spirited victory as Tottenham beats Brentford comeback | first division

Life is never boring for Tottenham fans under Ange Postecoglou. After a terrible first half that recalled the bad times of José Mourinho and Antonio Conte and that ended with them losing until Neal Maupay's first goal, the double substitution of the Spurs coach was the catalyst for the victory, as three goals in eight spectacular minutes after the break. The random Destiny Udogie, Brennan Johnson and Richarlison turned this game around.

There was still time for much more drama when Ivan Toney took advantage of a comical back pass from Udogie to score his second goal in as many games. since his return from a gambling ban and give hope to Thomas Frank's team. But with James Maddison again pulling the strings in attack, it was action-packed Tottenham who claimed the points to move above Aston Villa into fourth place.

Postecoglou had revealed that Maddison was “ready to go” after coming off the bench for FA Cup defeat against Manchester City weekend and the England midfielder received an extra loud ovation from the home fans when his name was announced before kick-off. Spurs were five points clear at the top of the table when he made his last start on November 6 against Chelsea before a run of four defeats in five games left them behind.

But while Postecoglou jokingly admonished a journalist who suggested Spurs are unlikely to win a trophy this season, the return of their talismanic midfielder had Tottenham fans dreaming of what could be the rest of this campaign.

Brentford's own comeback story 11 days ago included Toney scoring a controversial free-kick against Nottingham Forest and, after weathering an early storm as Maddison settled seamlessly into his playmaker role, the visitors began to offer a threat. There were early warning signs for Spurs when Maupay failed to control a pass from Keane Lewis-Potter in a good position before Mads Roerslev had a goal disallowed after Mathias Jensen was ruled offside.

However, with their five-man midfield waiting patiently to right Tottenham's mistakes, it wasn't long before another opportunity presented itself. Udogie was guilty of losing the ball on the halfway line and Toney should have done better when he shot straight at Guglielmo Vicario. It didn't matter, because Maupay was able to fit in despite slipping at the vital moment under pressure from Cristian Romero.

A smart shot from Timo Werner that just missed the near post nearly brought the hosts level before Richarlison curled his shot wide. But Brentford looked much more dangerous on the counter-attack and Lewis-Potter could have made matters worse had he hit a volley at the far post. The Brentford bench were outraged when their penalty requests were rejected after Romero appeared to drag Nathan Collins in the area, and the referee, David Coote, then disallowed Richarlison's goal just before half-time for a foul on the Irish defender .

Always the antagonist, Maupay received a yellow card after colliding with Dejan Kulusevski. Toney was presented with a golden opportunity to make it 2-0 with a free kick from Jensen, but he could only direct it to Vicario. At half-time, Postecoglou advanced through the tunnel deep in thought.

His response was to do a double substitution. Oliver Skipp and Rodrigo Bentancur were replaced by Pierre-Emile Højbjerg and Johnson, and Kulusevski moved into midfield. The impact was instantaneous.

Udogie combined with Werner on the left before finishing from a tight angle. Both were decisive in Tottenham's second just a minute later, when the German chose Johnson at the far post for the simplest of touches. The third came courtesy of Richarlison after Maddison's shot was blocked by Ethan Pinnock and the Brazilian made no mistake from close range. Brentford suddenly looked out of control as Spurs marched forward with newfound faith.

Toney squandered another excellent opportunity to give his team a lifeline and was greeted with boos from the home fans. But he made no mistake when Udogie inexplicably passed the ball straight to him as he lurked in the penalty area to set up a nervy finish.

Not that Tottenham were content to protect their lead. They kept pressing until the final whistle looking for a fourth goal which, despite Maddison's best efforts which ended up requiring treatment for a cramp at the end before being replaced by a standing ovation, did not quite come. Had Shandon Baptiste not been denied in stoppage time, it could have been a different story.