Premier League Match Report: West Ham 2-3 Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur got off to a fine start under new manager Jose Mourinho as the Lilywhites put an end to their five-game winless streak in the Premier League with a 3-2 victory over London rivals West Ham at the London Stadium on Saturday.
Tottenham made the trip across the capital to face West Ham on the back of a disappointing 1-1 draw against Sheffield United before the international break in what proved to be Mauricio Pochettino’s last game in charge, and the pressure was very much on the visitors to hit the ground running under Mourinho.
The Portuguese tactician made three changes to Pochettino’s last playing eleven against Sheffield United, with Lucas Moura, Harry Winks and Toby Alderweireld all featuring in the starting line-up while Giovani Lo Celso and Moussa Sissoko dropped to the bench.
There wasn’t a lot to separate the teams in the first half-hour but Tottenham drew first blood at the 36th minute when Heung-min Son danced down the left before firing it past Roberto, who should have done better to prevent his team from going 1-0 down.
Having grabbed the assist for Son’s opener, Dele Alli fired agonisingly wide shortly after and was almost gifted a goal by Roberto, who came off his line needlessly and punched at thin air.
Son, though, was once again in the thick of things and the Korean emerged as the provider this time, firing in a low cross from the left for Lucas, who got ahead of his marker Aaron Cresswell and tapped it in to make it 2-0 in favour of Spurs.
Lucas had a guilt-edged chance to make it 3-0 just a couple of minutes after the interval but the Brazilian fired high and wide from a one-on-one situation that looked easier to score than to miss.
However, Harry Kane made amends soon after, heading it in off Serge Aurier’s cross from the right to hand the visitors a near unassailable advantage.
With the game looking all but over for West Ham, Michail Antonio breathed life back into the contest with a well-taken goal in the 73rd minute and some late drama saw the Hammers throw caution to the winds in search of a remarkable comeback.
Things could have been different for Manuel Pellegrini’s side had Sebastien Haller’s late goal not been ruled out by VAR for an offside but replays clearly showed that it was the right call.
Angelo Ogbonna punished some sloppy defending from Tottenham and pulled one back with a header off Robert Snodgrass’ corner in the sixth minute of stoppage time but it was only a mere consolation.
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In the end, Tottenham did more than enough to earn all three points against their London rivals in what was a much-improved display inspired by a timely managerial change.
A lot of Tottenham fans already seem to have taken well to the new manager and here’s how some of them reacted to the 3-2 victory away at West Ham.