Harry Kane says the ground caused his skied penalty miss in Tottenham's 4-1 defeat of Southampton on Wednesday.
Nathan Redmond was issued a red card for bringing down Dele Alli in the Southampton box on 58 minutes, leaving Kane, who had scored Tottenham's second moments earlier, a chance to collect a brace on the night.
However the England international striker fired his shot well over the crossbar after an unstable patch of the pitch elevated the ball as he planted his left foot to shoot.
"The ground just gave way under me," Kane told Sky Sports. "I saw it before the game. There was a new patch of grass just on the penalty spot.
"It's even more devastating that the keeper went the wrong way as well. I'll be thinking about that one tonight."
The goal Kane did convert -- an uncontested header from a corner-kick situation -- was his first in four matches. And the 23-year-old was happy afterward to end his scoring drought.
"Whenever I go one or two games without scoring it seems to be a big deal," Kane said. "It shows where I'm at and the position I'm in.
"But I just try to help my team and score goals for the team and I was thankful to do that today."
Dele Alli, whose two goals included a classy equaliser at St Mary's, praised his side for not panicking after going down to Virgil van Dijk's early header.
"It's never nice to concede a goal that early in the game and it was important that we didn't lose our heads, didn't panic and stuck to our game plan.
"I think the boys did that and we knew that if we carried out the game plan there would be chances in the game.
"I put the first one away and after that it was a good game.
"We knew it wasn't going to be an easy game -- they're a fantastic team."
Mauricio Pochettino's men moved one point behind Arsenal in fourth while Southampton stay eighth after Wednesday's result.
They next travel to Watford on New Year's Day before hosting league leaders Chelsea and Pochettino wants his side to emulate last season's run.
"Yes why not? It's true the Premier League is very tough now, and all the big clubs, the sides are fighting at the top,'' Pochettino said.
"It is a completely different Premier League this year. For us it's important, we had a very good year for us last season, 71 points, and towards the end we were still fighting for big things.''
Press Association contributed to this report.