West Ham in big trouble as they go down too easily against Spurs – Harry Kane gets his goal

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West Ham made the short trip to face Tottenham knowing goal difference was the only thing keeping them out of the relegation zone, while Spurs could still get Champions League football if they can put a run of wins together.

Jose Mourinho was probably disappointed to only come out of the Man United game with a draw but there were some promising signs – compared to The Hammers who were looking to bounce back from defeat against Wolves.

Line Ups

Spurs: 4-2-3-1 – Lloris, Aurier, Sanchez, Dier, Davies, Sissoko, Lo Celso, Son, Alli, Lucas, Kane

Subs 59′ Lamela for Alli, 72′ Bergwijn for Lucas, 86′ Winks for Son

West Ham: 4-3-3 – Fabianski, Fredericks, Balbuena, Diop, Cresswell, Noble, Rice, Soucek, Bowen, Antonio, Fornals

Subs: 72′ Lanzini for Fornals, 72′ Anderson for Noble

First Half:

The game started off with both sides playing a lot of long balls as they tried to figure each other out, and it meant there wasn’t a lot of goalmouth action.

Lucas Moura was the first player to really test a goalkeeper as his dipping effort was tipped over by Fabianski. The Brazilian did well to skip away from Declan Rice and conjured the chance from nothing, but it was too central and the Polish keeper looked comfortable with the save.

Just when it looked like things were drifting to a dull 0-0 at half time, the game came to life in the final minutes of the half.

Firstly Son showed some lovely skill to step inside his marker and fired the ball past Fabianski at the near post, however VAR intervened after it emerged that his little toe was offside:

Shortly afterwards Lucas had a golden chance when he was given acres of space to line one up from around the penalty spot, but he seemed to panic and he scuffed his effort wide of the post.

Second Half:

The second half started in the same way as the first half ended, with Spurs on top and getting lot’s of possession in the West Ham half, while their opponents looked to catch them on the break.

The Hammers had a great chance when Jarrod Bowen did brilliantly to break down the right, and he pulled it back to Pablo Fornals who was arriving onto it at the edge of the area, but he didn’t catch it properly at all and bobbled harmlessly wide.

Spurs then countered and Harry Kane had a great chance on his left foot, but he still looked a bit of the pace and he could only drag his left footed effort wide.

It became an end-to-end affair as Declan Rice released Antonio with a long ball over the top, but he was slightly running away from goal and tried his luck with a half volley, but he was running at pace and was off balance and it was well over the bar.

The breakthrough eventually came just after the hour and it was a strange goal, as the lack of reaction from the players or crowd resulted in a few seconds while everyone tried to figure out what had happened.

A cross was nodded on to Soucek’s leg and he knew nothing about it, but it slipped into the net and gave Fabianski no chance:

Bowen came desperately close to finding an equaliser as the ball fell to him in the box when a wide free kick was headed back into the box, but his half volley smacked off the post and out for a goal kick.

The game was effectively over with ten minutes to go as Harry Kane timed his run perfectly to break the offside trap, and he looked confident as he opened his body up and picked his spot past the keeper.

 

Stats:

Courtesy of Sky Sports

Post Match Thoughts:

Alarm bells have to be ringing for the West Ham fans as the players didn’t look like they believed they could win tonight, and they looked defeated as soon as the first went in.

Jose Mourinho must be feeling confident of a top four charge after a solid performance where his main striker got his goal, but he must be worried that better teams will take advantage of some of the chances they are giving up.

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