It WAS a brutal way to end Tottenham's unbeaten run this season, but not entirely unexpected.

The Spurs may have started the campaign with five wins and two draws from their first seven games, but the performances have been largely professional rather than spectacular.

For that reason, a result like this always felt like it was in the cards and it was, albeit under dramatic circumstances.

Substitutes Paulinho and Arthur Gomes did damage in injury time with the former heading in from a corner and the latter producing a great solo goal to send the José Alvalade Stadium into the potty.

Antonio Conte could do little more than put his hands in his pockets after seeing a deadlock snatched from death.

But Sporting arguably had it coming with Tottenham veteran Marcus Edwards looking electric at times in a game otherwise lacking in spark, until the very end.

Edwards was once compared to Lionel Messi by Mauricio Pochettino when the pair were still at Tottenham and the 23-year-old nearly produced a goal worthy of the Argentine genius in first-half stoppage time.

While the mystery surrounding Son Heung-min's barren start to the campaign continued as the South Korean managed eight games without scoring now.

The joint winner of the Premier League Golden Boot last season claimed last week that he was not worried about him being drought because he still had chances.

But he didn't fire a single shot last night before trudging off in the 72nd minute to be replaced by Dejan Kulusevski.

Conte is desperate for half of his dynamic duo at the top of it, along with Harry Kane, to break his campaign soon.

With displays like this, though, it wouldn't be unfair to the 30-year-old to see him start Saturday's game at home against Leicester on the bench.

Spurs players wore black armbands to mark the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, while there was also a reasonably well-observed minute's silence before kick-off in honor of Her Majesty.

Sporting boss Ruben Amorim spoke about Edwards before the match, even suggesting that he play for England one day.

And it came through the talented 23-year-old, who left Tottenham for free in 2019, that the first chance of the match arose.

Edwards darted up the middle and shoved wide at the highly rated Pedro Goncalves, formerly of Wolves, whose effort was headed for the far corner before Hugo Lloris shoved it wide.

In the 25th minute, Richarlison squandered a decent chance, by his standards, when he nodded Ivan Perisic's cross to the ground, allowing the keeper to claim it easily.

Given that it was the Brazilian who won last week's Champions League opener at home to Marseille with two bullet headers, he probably should have done better.