The up-and-down nature of Tottenham Hotspur’s season continued on Sunday as Spurs topped a tumbling West Ham 2-0 at home and returned to the top four.
Tottenham Hotspur, who beat Manchester City a couple of weeks ago, could not be found against Leicester, was back at N17 on Sunday. Playing what we know is a problematic London derby, Spurs did what they needed to, beating a bottom-half West Ham side behind a big second-half surge moving back into the Premier League top four and a future Champions League place; here is how.
Almost behind early, Tottenham was on the front foot throughout against West Ham
In many ways, West Ham is a mirror image of Tottenham on the pitch, with the 3-4-3 formation and a willingness to let the opponent hold possession. Of course, this strategy works even better when playing from a lead, which West Ham almost was.
The Hammer’s best chance of the match was in the opening minutes, after a poor giveaway by Tottenham.
Richarlison – who started in the front three instead of Heung-min Son – tried to play a back pass to Ben Davies – who started at left wing-back – but the two Spurs players were not on the same page, and West Ham had a throw, which they took quickly. The quick throw allowed Tomas Soucek to get behind Spurs’ left-side volleying a cross into Jarrod Bowen. Bowen struck the ball cleanly, but it went sailing wide as Fraser Forster went flying.
That moment in the first minute of the match was the moment for West Ham. Had Bowen hit the target, Forster would never have had a chance, and West Ham sitting back would have been different. Instead, Bowen missed the target, and Tottenham could grow into the game and eventually dominate.
While Spurs’ season has been up-and-down, West Ham’s has just been down, and Tottenham made sure that was the case in the final 45 minutes.
The big moment to open the game up and put Tottenham in total control came from an unlikely source, the two Spurs wing-backs.
Spurs wing-backs and finally come through
The play started with a beautiful through ball from Pierre Hojbjerg, threading the needle through the West Ham lines as Davies rushed in behind. The Welshman took a touch and then squared it to Royal, who had been running up the pitch parallel to Davies. Emerson calmly slotted past a helpless Lukasz Fabianski as Spurs took the 1-0 lead.
Although West Ham played physically and kept working, they were never threatening Forster’s goal in a meaningful way, leaving room for super-substitute Son to finish nailing the Hammer’s coffin shut.
The second goal started harmlessly enough, with Kane battling Angelo Ogbonna in the midfield for a long ball. Realizing he would not win it, Kane stepped away and squared himself to Ogbonna, putting himself in a perfect position to win the second ball.
With the ball at his feet, facing the goal, Kane hit a nice through ball – wow, two in one game from Spurs – to a flashing Son. Sonny had a wonderful touch with the outside of his foot to set the ball perfectly for another excellent slot finish and the 2-0 Spurs lead.
Down by two, these are not the same Hammers who took a point from Tottenham two years ago with a miraculous comeback. Although West Ham got half their six total shots after the second goal, none were dangerous as Spurs saw out the win.
With three more points, Tottenham leapfrogs Newcastle into fourth place in the table, although the Magpies have a game in hand on Spurs. With a week to prepare for Chelsea, Tottenham can strengthen their hold on a Champions League spot.