Spurs star Eric Dier bickers with Wolves man over Aston Villa penalty claim as Alan Shearer offers verdict

Former Tottenham Hotspur pals Eric Dier and Matt Doherty have been bickering online following a controversial penalty decision in the meeting between Aston Villa and Wolves.

Doherty featured in that game, having returned to Molineux this summer, coming off the bench just after half-time with the scores at 0-0. In the 53rd minute, Wolves took the lead against their local rivals through Hwang Hee-chan but Pau Torres then levelled the scores just two minutes later.

The clash finished with the spoils shared, despite a late red card for Wolves man Mario Lemina, but it could have been very different when Doherty laid a hand on a progressing Ollie Watkins in the dying minutes. The in-form striker went down in the box under the contact with the Republic of Ireland international refusing that the coming together warranted a penalty. The spot kick wasn't given with contact deemed to be minimal but Doherty can consider himself a little fortunate while Unai Emery's side will feel hard done by.

Former Spurs chum Eric Dier re-watched the incident on X, formerly known as Twitter, and couldn't resist the chance of winding up his old chum. 'Penalty,' he wrote as he shared the video of the coming together online.

The cheeky Tweet led to a series of one-word exchanges between the two. Doherty replied to Dier's penalty claim with the word 'experience' before the Spurs man retorted with 'laziness'.

The defensive duo spent two-and-a-half seasons playing together at Tottenham Hotspur before Doherty moved to Athletico Madrid in January, where he struggled for game time before a return to the Midlands club where he spent the first 10 years of his professional career.

Alan Shearer analysed the penalty incident on Match of the Day 2 and agreed with Dier out of the two stars. The former Newcastle United man said: "If he doesn't shove him, he's getting a clear shot at goal. Clearly, he shoves him, enough for him to be off-balance there. That's why he misses the target as he does. For me, that should have been a penalty."