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Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham battled to a standstill in a rain-soaked London Stadium on Tuesday evening, with an entertaining London derby ending 1-1.
Both teams searched for a winner throughout the second half. Michail Antonio had the best chance, clean through after a slip from Micky Van de Ven, but he could only shoot straight at Guglielmo Vicario.
In a lively first half Brennan Johnson opened the scoring from close range after five minutes, following good work on the left by Timo Werner.
West Ham’s captain Kurt Zouma levelled the score fourteen minutes later, diverting a corner into the goal off his back. The home side had a number of corners throughout the game, but could not make any more count.
Both teams remain where they were in the table, with Spurs in fifth place and West Ham in seventh.
TALKING POINT
Missed chance for Spurs? Even if Ange Postecoglou’s team don’t catch Aston Villa for fourth position this season, it’s looking increasingly like fifth might be enough to secure UEFA Champions League football for Spurs next term.
Fate can be fickle though, and we’re nowhere near done yet. Spurs were on top for a significant chunk of the game tonight but failed to make it count. With a taxing run of fixtures at the end of April and start of May, this may yet be rued as a missed opportunity.
Or maybe it won’t. Villa have some big games of their own plus the distraction of Thursday night European football; behind Spurs, Manchester United look too inconsistent, too injury-ravaged and too many points behind to make a fight of it. So maybe fifth will be enough, but it’s always better to have fate in your own hands come this stage of the season.
PLAYER OF THE MATCH – Micky Van de Ven (Tottenham Hotspur)
If Spurs do secure Champions League football in the final stretch of the season, the return of Van de Ven may come to be seen as key. Bar one literal slip on a rain-sodden surface tonight he was pretty much note perfect; and his recovery pace is the key to giving Spurs the freedom to pile forwards.
PLAYER RATINGS
West Ham United: Fabianski 7; Coufal 5, Mavropanos 7, Zouma 7, Emerson 6; Ward-Prowse 6, Soucek 6, Paqueta 7; Kudus 6, Antonio 6, Bowen 7
SUBS: Anang, Cresswell, Ogbonna, Ings, Johnson, Phillips, Cornet, Mubama, Earthy
Tottenham Hotspur: Vicario 7; Porro 6, Romero 6, Van de Ven 8, Udogie 7; Bissouma 6, Bentancur 5, Maddison 7; Johnson 7, Son 6, Werner 6
SUBS: Hojbjerg 6, Sarr 7, Lo Celso 6, Kulusevski 6, Richarlison 6
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
5′ GOAL! WEST HAM UNITED 0 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1 (JOHNSON 5) Crikey – Spurs go straight up the other end and score! A nice move through the middle ends with Udogie feeding Werner on the left of the area. Werner jinks to the side and drills a low cross into the six yard box, where Johnson is unmarked and tucks it in to give Spurs the lead!
19′ GOAL! WEST HAM UNITED 1 (ZOUMA 19) TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1 Bowen wins a corner for West Ham, and takes it himself. The delivery is superb, whipped in to the heart of the six yard box; Zouma jumps and misses it with his head, but the ball catches him on the back and flies into the goal!
60′ HUGE CHANCE! Maddison is clattered in the D of the West Ham box, but there’s no free kick. West Ham break immediately, and with a long punt over the top it’s Antonio and Van de Ven one on one again. Van de Ven gets to it first but falls over, and Antonio is clean through…but blasts straight at Vicario! Oh my word, what a 20 seconds that was.
90+4′ CHANCE! A loose cross into the West Ham box falls to Udogie, who volleys straight at Fabianski from 15 yards out!
90+4′ SCRAMBLE! Now West Ham break, with Bowen hooking a cross into the six yard box with Vicario committed, but there are no takers! Kudus is then robbed of the ball and Spurs break, but Kulusevski’s attempted cross to the back post is cut out. Phew!
