Tottenham Match Report: 2-3 win at West Ham

Tottenham banished ghosts of seasons past with a 3-2 win over West Ham, but they did not make it especially easy on themselves.

Two goals from Harry Kane topped by a fine Christian Eriksen strike earned Tottenham the win, but two second half West Ham goals threatened to make this another lackluster match for the visitors.

West Ham made matters difficult for Tottenham early. Spurs chances were few in the opening half hour, and it was West Ham who seemed to be inching closer and closer to goal.

Admittedly, Spurs themselves played a part in West Ham’s edge. Passes out of the defense were frequently misplaced — sometimes directly to the feet of West Ham attackers. Without Mousa Dembélé, Spurs lacked the ability to retain and move possession forward reliably. Moussa Sissoko, Dele Alli and Eriksen all suffered from some uncharacteristic lack of poise with the ball at their feet.

There were standout performances however. Serge Aurier was simply spectacular throughout the first half, picking the ball off the feet of West Ham attackers and diligently pressing Spurs’ limited forays forward. He might single-handedly have kept Spurs in the game long enough for the tide to turn.

That turn came with an injury to Michail Antonio in the 28th minute. Without arguably their best player stretching play and keeping Spurs pinned back, the visitors could push forward more and get closer to Joe Hart’s goal.

The man who replaced Antonio, Andy Carroll, was actually indirectly responsible for the opening goal. It was his lost ball that found Eriksen, which resulted in a wonderfully slotted pass through to a well timed run from Dele Alli, who subsequently found Kane for an excellent finish.

It was a picture-perfect Tottenham goal, and just at the right time. West Ham, already reeling from the loss of Antonio, couldn’t muster an immediate response. Jan Vertonghen — surprisingly poor in the opening half hour — rushed forward four minutes after Kane’s goal to help create an Alli deflected shot that turned into Kane’s second.

A 2-0 scoreline is exactly what Mauricio Pochettino loves to take into half-time. It permits Spurs to take it easier in the second half, defend more robustly and — hopefully — see out the 90 without conceding.

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That ideal seemed close to reality after Eriksen scored following Kane hitting the post off a free-kick. It seemed beyond improbable that West Ham could recover from 3-0 down.

That is unless Spurs find a way to kneecap themselves midway through the second half. Minutes after picking up a first yellow — a likelihood after a series of close calls in the first half despite his exceptional play — Aurier went to ground on a tackle on Carroll and got sent off. It somehow felt fitting for the troubled Ivorian’s Premier League debut to be soured by a ridiculous red card.

Aurier’s two yellows were made worse by what happened in between them. Javier Hernández scored a goal off a corner that seemed, at the moment, to be nothing more than consolation for the home side. The red card five minutes later suddenly made the Mexico international’s contribution look much more dangerous.

Pochettino’s response was to bring on Harry Winks for Eriksen. This added a proper central midfielder to the side, thereby boosting Spurs’ chances retaining at least some possession and perhaps limiting the amount of balls chipped over the top for Carroll to bring down.

Kieran Trippier’s introduction was harder to justify however. The England right-back has already shown his defensive blindspots earlier this season in the draw against Burnley. Deploying him now against a West Ham team likely to exploit the flanks for crosses into Carroll seemed unwise at best.

The Hammers inched closer to a shock draw less than ten minutes after Trippier’s introduction. Winks tracked Arthur Masuaku down the touchline, with Trippier merely a spectator a yard or two behind. Rather than covering for the cross and at least trying to get his body in the way, Trippier watched as Masuaku launched a ball to the far post for Cheikhou Kouyaté to score past Lloris.

It was the 87th minute and Spurs still looked like they might concede an equalizer. Fernando Llorente’s introduction allowed for more long balls launched forward, but it did little to actually hold West Ham back.

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Thankfully for Spurs, the match descended into a shoving match in stoppage time. The passion of the preceding 90 minutes overflowed as West Ham were desperate to claw something back from what was otherwise another terrible match. Five yellows were issued by Michael Oliver in nearly seven minutes of stoppage, three to West Ham and two to Tottenham.

All that time wasted saw the match end with Tottenham as the victors. Their fine play from the 30th to the 70th minute earned this result, but what came before and after that segment should trouble Pochettino.