Spurs 3-2 West HamHome team scorersHarry Winks 51
Harry Kane 89
Harry Kane 90 +0:45 pen
Away team scorersMichail Antonio 24
Manuel Lanzini 68 pen
Tottenham Hotpsur’s unbeaten run remains intact but a far more crucial fact for Mauricio Pochettino at the end of this classic encounter will be that his team’s winless streak, dating back to 2 October, has ended. Spurs dominated for long spells of this pulsating London derby but it was not until Harry Kane, the most prolific of goalscorers against local rivals, scored twice in the final two minutes that a first defeat of the season was not just saved but transformed into victory.
Michail Antonio’s sixth goal of the season – all have been headers – had put West Ham ahead, but at a time when Spurs were looking the surer bet to score a leading goal after Harry Winks equalised on his first league start, Manuel Lanzini converted from the penalty spot to put the Hammers back in front.
Slaven Bilic’s defensive-minded tactical switch at 2-1 proved costly as the visitors, who remain 17th, sat back in an attempt to conserve the narrow lead and Kane scored in the 89th and 90th minutes to secure an unlikely three points.
This was always going to be an exception to the unwritten rule that games immediately after the international break take a while to ignite. Both were hungry to claim an early foothold, but it was the hosts that went closest in the opening minutes when an exquisite diagonal pass from Eric Dier was taken down by Christian Eriksen. The Denmark attacker controlled neatly and fired into the net but was correctly flagged for offside.
At the opposite end Diafra Sakho, making his first appearance of the season having recovered from a back injury, started purposefully, harrying Dier and Jan Vertonghen, while Lanzini’s trickery behind the Senegal striker gave Spurs early grounds for concern.
Tottenham monopolised possession for much of the opening period, yet Darren Randolph, replacing the out of sorts Adrián in West Ham’s goal, had very little to do. Pochettino’s decision to pair Harry Kane with Vincent Janssen, perhaps believing two strikers would work best against the visitors’ three-man defence, was faltering and Spurs were left short in wide areas when being countered.
In saying that, Antonio broke the deadlock from a set piece. The wing-back had an initial effort blocked by Kyle Walker and from Dimitri Payet’s corner Cheikou Kouyaté’s powerful header came off the bar. The rebound broke to Winston Reid, whose effort took a heavy deflection and Antonio was in the right place to head past a scrambling Hugo Lloris from close range.
As half-time approached Pochettino grew exasperated with his team’s lateral play but refrained from changing personnel or system at the interval. He was furious once more in the opening minutes of the second half when Dembélé dawdled under a high ball, allowing Sakho to muscle in and intercept. He fed Payet, who cruised goalwards but was halted by a terrific tackle from Vertonghen.
A minute later all those frustrations were released by Pochettino when Harry Winks tapped home. It also came from Spurs first proper flowing move of the evening. Rose advanced speedily down the left and found Janssen at the near post. The Dutch striker turned and forced Randolph to save from a tight angle. The keeper’s block was parried to the feet of Winks and he did not hesitate in converting.
Equalising put such a pep in Spurs’ step that Walker was booked soon after for challenging Payet a little too enthusiastically, however there was no mistaking the added purpose to their football and only a brilliant Randolph save to deny Dier stopped them from taking the lead just before the hour. Yet completely against the run of play West Ham retook the lead when Janssen had his arm around the shoulder of Reid from a corner and Mike Dean, the referee, immediately pointed to the spot. Lanzini coolly converted, sending Lloris the wrong way.
Irritatingly for Spurs, Janssen was about to be replaced by Dele Alli, but they held off on making the substitution until the corner was taken. When the striker was removed immediately after he made sure to take out his annoyance with one of the seats in the dugout.
The game became even more one-sided from that moment on and the signs of a late concession – or two – were there when Payet was removed for the more conservative Havard Nordtveit six minutes from time.
And a minute after Kane tapped in the equaliser, following another Randolph parry from a Son Heung-min cross, Nordtveit took down Son for penalty. Kane drilled it ferociously into the bottom left corner. Winston Reid was also shown a second yellow in injury time.
Guardian