Tottenham concede late to draw with Roma: Five things we learned

Mats Hummels scored a second-half stoppage-time equaliser as AS Roma drew with Tottenham 2-2.

Three goals were scored in the first period of the match, with Son Heung-min opening the scoring from the spot before Evan N’Dicka equalised midway through the half for Claudio Ranieri’s men. Brennan Johnson gave Spurs the lead again before Hummels, who gave away the first-half penalty, became the saviour as he tapped in Angelino’s cross deep in second half injury time to salvage a point.

The Serie A side will consider themselves unlucky not to return to Italy with a win after having three goals disallowed. A draw for Spurs takes sees them sit in ninth place on 10 points in five matches in the Europa League. Roma languish in 21st place after their third draw of the campaign.

Here are five things we learnt from the game…

Dybala shows his quality

Paulo Dybala is an exquisite footballer. The Argentine maestro is into his third season with the Giallorossi, who have struggled this campaign, languishing in 12th place in Serie A and onto their third manager of the season already. But the 31-year-old showed both sets of fans the quality that got the footballing world excited in him when he burst onto the scene with Palermo a decade ago. Every pass was perfect to a tee, his ball control was excellent and his work ethic was fantastic. An outstanding player.

Tottenham fail to kick on after early lead

Despite going ahead four minutes in through a Son Heung-Min penalty, Tottenham lost all focus for the following 15 minutes. During this spell, Roma took the initiative and equalised through N’Dicka, before Stephan El Shaarawy thought his superb strike had given the Italian’s the lead, only for it to be ruled out for handball. Spurs grew back into the match, but it is another worrying sign of how quickly their levels can drop.

Brennan Johnson continues to impress

Brennan Johnson is on course to have his best season in professional football. The 23-year-old Welshman’s campaign exploded into life with a dramatic 93rd minute winner against Coventry in the Carabao Cup following the deactivation of his social media accounts after receiving online abuse. Johnson has scored ten goals so far for club and country, and has become a mainstay in Ange Postecoglou’s side. Another goal tonight against Roma only further justifies the Australian’s faith in the forward.

Unlucky Roma score three disallowed goals

Although they were the better side on the day, Tottenham were given a massive reprieve by the officials after Roma had three goals disallowed. The Italians had one ruled out in the first half after El Shaarawy handled the ball before finishing, followed by two in the second half being knocked off for offside. Spurs defensively still look shaky, and that will need to be something they improve on if they are to progress as a team.

Tottenham’s Europa League hopes take a hit

With the Europa League entering into its final stages of the inaugural league phase, Tottenham’s hopes of progressing via the top eight and straight into the last sixteen remain high but the last two games, a defeat to Galatasaray followed by this draw, have been a blow. Three wins, one draw and one loss in five matches leaves Postecoglou’s men on 10 points and in ninth place. With Spurs heading to Glasgow in two weeks time, a win at Ibrox could go a long way to making sure they finish in that top eight but it not a certainty.