Julen Lopetegui heaps praise on Raul Jimenez after Wolves win

The striker was dropped from the starting XI but came on when Diego Costa suffered a knee injury in the 28th minute.

Jimenez put in a superb performance and played a big part in Adama Traore’s winner – and Lopetegui was full of praise for the creator, the goalscorer and other players that came into the side.

He said: “I want to highlight a lot of players. For example, Nathan Collins hasn’t played in the last matches and he was ready when I looked for him.

“Jonny hasn’t played a lot of matches and was ready. Joao, when he went into the pitch, he was ready.

“And, above all, Raul Jimenez has played a fantastic match in my opinion. It’s good news for him and for us.

“He didn’t score but he was very important in a lot of facets of the play.

“It’s important. Sometimes we analyse the forwards for the goals that they score but they have a lot to offer to the team. I have to review the match, but in my opinion he has made a very good match.”

Adama’s brilliant half volley secured all three points and the head coach also highlighted his impact.

He added: “Adama has one kind of quality, it is very clear, and we try to take advantage of it. Today he scored a fantastic goal.

“It’s not one of the best versions of him, goals, because he has other skills. Today, fortunately he scored a fantastic goal for us.

“We are happy for the three points of course.

“The match has two clear halves. In the first half they played with fantastic rhythm.

“In the second half we improved a lot and showed another face.”

Wolves put in a poor display in the first half, as they allowed Spurs too much time and space to create openings on goal.

The visitors’ inability to take their chances saved Wolves, before Lopetegui made a tactical switch to bring Nathan Collins on and switch to a 5-2-3 formation.

That plan, which saw Wolves match Spurs’ shape, saw them improve in the second half before going on to win the game.

When asked about those changes, Lopetegui said: “It was tactical. We started playing in the back three and tried to do different things and I want to highlight that it was important to have resilience in the bad moments in the first half.

“We were resilient and kept going, knowing we would have one chance.

“The changes are about the players. Sometimes I make changes, like in the last match against Liverpool, thinking we are going to be better and in the end we were worse.

“The merit of the change is about the players.”

Meanwhile, Wolves are waiting for scan results to see the extent of Costa’s injury.

The striker landed awkwardly and damaged his knee, before needing to be stretchered off.

Wolves will hope the prognosis is similar to Cunha, who was also stretchered off at Fulham but avoided a serious injury and only missed one game.

When asked about Costa, Lopetegui said: “We are going to check him tomorrow. He showed pain in his knee. We have to wait.”

Daniel Podence was also left out of the squad altogether, as he seemingly falls further out of favour with the head coach.

Lopetegui confirmed the decision was tactical and not down to injury. The winger has also not started for Wolves since January 14, when he scored in a win over West Ham.