Tottenham beat Bournemouth 3-1 in their final game of 2023 to move within three points of Premier League leaders Liverpool.
Pape Matar Sarr, Son Heung-min and Richarlison got the goals, but Spurs were dealt yet more injury blows with Sarr and Alejo Veliz coming off the pitch.
Veliz went down injured just before stoppage time but the Cherries opted to continue playing rather than kick the ball out of play, which appeared to be the prompt for a war of words between Postecoglou and Bournemouth assistant manager Shaun Cooper.
The rest of dugout attempted to separate the two, with referee Simon Hooper eventually coming over to book the pair, as well as Spurs midfielder Giovani Lo Celso, over the incident.
Like Sarr before him, Veliz left the pitch in tears, leaving his team to play with 10 men having used all five of their substitutions.
The Spurs boss was naturally asked about the clash but refused to be drawn in on the matter, instead issuing this brilliant response: ‘Ah nothing mate. We all just came together to wish each other a Happy New Year mate and make some resolutions.
‘It’s alright. Just a little bit of emotion in the game. I was more concerned with Alejo because we were kind of trying to get him off the field, and apart from my physically going on the pitch and dragging him off he wasn’t really going to go down.
‘So we were just shouting at him and I think the Bournemouth staff thought, I don’t know what they thought, maybe that we were trying to make a substitution but we knew we had none. It was just about getting him off.’
Tottenham go into 2024 in a cheery mood, with this result leaving them fifth in the table but crucially only three points behind Liverpool and Aston Villa, and just a point off Manchester City and Arsenal.
The Gunners missed the chance to go top of the table on New Year’s Eve with a 2-1 defeat at Fulham.
It should be said that Liverpool and City have a game in hand over their title rivals, with the Reds set to host Newcastle on New Year’s Day.
Next up for Spurs is an FA Cup third round clash at home to Burnley on Friday, with their next league game on the 14th January when they travel to Manchester United.
MORE : Ange Postecoglou delighted as ‘super’ Tottenham star makes shock return from injury to start against Bournemouth
MORE : Gary Neville ‘worried’ by Manchester United’s plans for Victor Lindelof and Raphael Varane
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