Burnley relegated after Micky van de Ven keeps Tottenham’s season alive

When it finally arrived, there was an air of resignation from Vincent Kompany. For almost 40 minutes of the second half, his Burnley side had somehow held out in the face of a Tottenham onslaught as Ange Postecoglou’s side launched wave after wave of attacks.

Having taken a surprise lead in the first half through Jacob Bruun Larsen’s well-taken strike, a Tottenham fightback thanks to goals from Pedro Porro and Micky van den Ven ended Burnley’s brave resistance and confirmed that they are heading back to where they came from 12 months ago. But as well as keeping up their slim chances of reaching the Champions League – only a victory over Manchester City on Tuesday that could hand Arsenal the title will suffice as they bid to catch Aston Villa in fourth spot – there was also relief for Postecoglou as he avoided becoming the first Spurs manager since Ossie Ardiles in 1994 to lose five league games in a row. While this was far from a return to their free-flowing best from earlier in the season, sometimes the result is all that matters.

Postecoglou had been a guest of the Australian government at a Buckingham Palace tea party this week and said he would have no qualms about delivering a knockout blow to Burnley, who King Charles revealed are his favourite team in 2012. But with their opponents having suffered four successive Premier League defeats for the first time since 2004, Kompany’s players had fancied their chances of prolonging their survival hopes for at least another week.

Tottenham had Oliver Skipp filling in at left-back and James Maddison restored to the starting lineup and made a positive start when the England midfielder’s shot was deflected over. Yet Burnley looked determined to at least go down fighting with Lyle Foster and Wilson Odobert paired in attack and it required a goal-line clearance from Cristian Romero to save Tottenham after Guglielmo Vicario had saved from Vitinho’s header.

Arijanet Muric was equal to a Brennan Johnson volley from Dejan Kulusevski’s lofted ball to the back post before Son Heung-min could only scuff his shot straight at the Burnley goalkeeper. Not for the first time this season, however, it was Spurs who found themselves trailing at home when Sander Berge was too strong in the tackle for Porro before playing in Bruun Larsen, who finished emphatically to spark wild celebrations in the away section basking in the sunshine.

Luckily for Postecoglou as the murmurs of discontent were just beginning to become audible, his side were not behind for long. Porro made up for his error by speeding away from Dara O’Shea having been fed by Johnson before smashing the ball past Muric to leave Kompany stamping his feet in frustration. Johnson then should have given Tottenham the lead when Muric gifted him possession inside his own penalty area but the Wales forward could only find the side netting. Bruun Larsen slipped at the vital moment when he found himself free inside the area and his shot was way off target in a close shave for the Spurs defence. There was yet another on the stroke of half-time when the Dane was set up by Foster but shot straight at Vicario.

Tottenham have made a habit of winning games this season with strong second-half performances and they appeared intent on taking control after the break. The unmarked Johnson could not control Maddison’s deep cross to the back post before Porro could only find the side netting from a tight angle. Maddison should have given Tottenham the lead when he was played in by Porro but Muric was able to thwart him after O’Shea had been left on his backside. Having had more than 80% of possession in the second half, it seemed inevitable that the hosts would find a breakthrough, although Kulusevski could not capitalise on another Burnley mix-up when Josh Cullen gave the ball away.

Johnson could not make his opportunity count after Son’s darting run had picked him out at the far post before Muric denied Pape Sarr with a full-length save. It seemed like Tottenham’s luck might be out until Van de Ven seized the initiative with seven minutes left to play to condemn Burnley to another season in the Championship.