Tottenham Hotspur often struggle against West Ham United, and when the away side scored the opening goal at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Spurs fans could have been forgiven for letting a familiar feeling of dread take root; but that dread soon gave way to delight as Spurs put West Ham to the sword in a dominant second 45.
Both sides were able to name arguably their strongest XIs, with the returns of both Son Heung-min and Richarlison a massive boost for Spurs, as Son went straight back into the starting lineup. There was also a return to the XI for Yves Bissouma, coming in for Rodrigo Bentancur, and while there were fears that Lucas Bergvall and Brennan Johnson could have picked up knocks on international duty, both claimed places in the squad.
Spurs looked bright from the off, with a couple of half-chances: an excellent pass from Pedro Porro into the West Ham 18-yard box almost laid an opportunity on a platter for Dominic Solanke, Brennan Johnson volleyed a shot past the post, and a Son curler went narrowly wide; but the best early chance fell to West Ham, as Jarrod Bowen cut a pass across the box to Mohammed Kudus, whose shot was well struck but too close to Guglielmo Vicario. It was almost a carbon copy of that moment though that saw West Ham open the scoring. Bowen shrugged off some extremely shoddy defending by Destiny Udogie and played the ball across the goalmouth to an unmarked Kudus who slotted home.
It began to look like it could be a frustrating afternoon for Spurs as West Ham dropped deep, and the chances just wouldn’t go in. Brennan Johnson had a headed chance from right in front of goal go off his shoulder and wide when it seemed easier to score, and Porro hit a shot from range that Alphonse Areola did well to save after it took a wicked deflection. The Hammers goalkeeper didn’t cover himself in glory, however, as Spurs soon equalized. A break from deep in Tottenham territory found the feet of Dejan Kulusevski, and the Swede cut inside on his left and unleashed a shot towards the near post. Areola should have done better, getting a glove on the effort, but instead it rattled off his fingertips and on to both posts, before nestling into the back of the net.
Spurs started to turn the screws from there, and one moment in particular with some gorgeous interplay from Spurs including a backheel from Dejan Kulusevski could have resulted in what would have been up there among the best goals of the season. Pedro Porro, however, was unable to quite get his volley on target, and both sides went into the break with a goal each.
Ange Postecoglou made an intriguing halftime substitution. It was one that seemed defensive on the face of things, an odd choice with scores tied, as James Maddison made way for Pape Matar Sarr. The removal of one of their creative presences didn’t seem to hamper Spurs though, as it wasn’t long until the Lilywhites went into the lead. Son played a neat pass into Destiny Udogie, who had made an underlapping run into the West Ham box. Udogie cooly controlled the pass, swiveled, and laid the ball off to an incoming Yves Bissouma, who swept his shot home first time.
Tottenham went immediately back on the attack. Kulusevski attacked the box in acres of space, before playing in Son, who had made a clever run in behind the Swede. Son’s left-footed effort was reasonably weak, but Areola couldn’t hold it, spilling the ball straight into the path of Jean-Clair Todibo who was tracking back in defense. It rebounded off the center back, Areola once more, and then into the goal, doubling Spurs’ lead in the space of minutes.
It took only minutes more for Spurs to add another as the Lilywhites began to put West Ham to the sword. A fantastic raking pass from deep found Son in open pasture. With little support close to him, the South Korean opted to take on his man, showing quick feet to force Todibo off balance. He created enough space for a shot and fired it low past Areola who once more should have done better. In an instant, the score had gone from 1-1 to 4-1.
West Ham grew more and more frustrated, and that soon boiled over as Kudus kicked Micky van de Ven while on the ground. The Dutchman reacted, shoving the West Ham winger, who lashed out in kind, striking the center back in the face, before doing the same to Pape Matar Sarr while a shoving match erupted between both teams. The referee bizarrely awarded both van de Ven and Kudus with yellow cards, before intervention by VAR resulted in a red card for the Ghanaian.
The scoreline could have been even more one-sided. Spurs nearly added a fifth as Son latched onto a deflected pass and left the right upright shaking, and Timo Werner and Brennan Johnson both had good chances to add to the lead. West Ham were able to save themselves though from any further embarrassment, even while down to 10 men, and the match finished 4-1.
Reactions
- I liked this match more than the Brighton one. Can we have more like this one please, and fewer like Brighton?
- Did Ange Postecoglou hear the complaints about the late subs against Brighton? Because a half-time sub pulling James Maddison off the park was NOT what I had on my bingo sheet.
- Outside of the personnel change, I’m not sure exactly what was going on tactically – it just felt like Spurs started making the most of the chances they were creating – but Sarr definitely held a bit of a deeper position than Maddison, and that gave the left side of defense a bit more support.
- Speaking of… Destiny Udogie had a rough match today, and that’s been a pretty consistent issue most of the season. It looked like he’d shaken the rust off with a dominant performance against Manchester United, but when do we need to worry that these performances aren’t just an aberration, especially coming off a significant injury? At least he made up for it with an assist!
- Gee. I don’t know WHAT has happened to Dejan Kulusevski this season (maybe a writer on this site wrote an article trashing him) but he has gone from strength to strength this season, and was unplayable at times today. I wasn’t a fan of his play in midfield from what I’d seen last season, but what he offers in that role right now is unbelievable.
- There could have been 3-4 red cards in that fracas caused by Kudus. Unbelievable that the referee was happy to settle for a yellow each way, when he clearly intentionally kicked van de Ven on the ground, before lashing out and hitting multiple Spurs players in the face. That’s what VAR is for, I guess?
- Did Ryan Mason getting his head turned by Anderlecht affect Spurs’ attacking set pieces? Who’s to say? But the delivery from Maddison was pretty consistently poor.
- Next up: back to Europe to take on AZ Alkmaar and for a reunion with Troy Parrott. COYS!
