It was a big night at the Boleyn, where a hugely impressive West Ham side dented Tottenham’s title hopes, and put the East Londoners in with a real chance of Champions League football. Uways Nisar and Xavier Brown were at Upton Park for Rising East.
Tottenham Hotspur missed a huge chance to go top of the Premier League for the first time this season as they lost 1-0 to West Ham in a fierce London derby at the Boleyn Ground.
The Hammers closed the gap to Manchester City, who lie in fourth, to just one point, with a fully deserved win, strengthening talk of a potential chance at acquiring Champions League football next season.
Spurs haven’t been at the summit of the top flight at this stage since 1964, as they stumbled at the hardest of hurdles, turning in what was their worst performance of the season
The North London side, who were on a six-match winning run, saw most of the ball with 65% possession, however they failed to make it count with only two of their nine shots hitting the target.
The Hammers started the game better and made the most of their early pressure when they scored in just the seventh minute of the match after a mistake by Hugo Lloris.
The Frenchman got a strong hand to a powerful header by the former Reading man, Michail Antonio, however the keeper could not keep it out.
Rampant
The North London side could do nothing to tame the Irons as they were running rampant in a brilliant display.
West Ham almost doubled their lead, but found Lloris in their path, as he made a full-stretch save to deny Mark Noble, the Spurs man atoning for his earlier error.
The North London side failed to register a shot on target until an hour into the game, highlighting their lack of creativity.
The visitors’ best chance came in the 61st minute when defender Toby Alderweireld had a 25-yard strike superbly stopped by Adrian.
Other than that Tottenham failed to create any real chances for the rest of the second half as the game petered out.
Defeat leaves Tottenham with their first defeat in seven games and still two points off Leicester in second place. – Uways Nisar
This was a highly anticipated Premier League match between two very impressive clubs this season, as well as a massive London derby, writes Xavier Brown.
Tottenham came into this game knowing that three points would send them to the top of the league. They would want to take advantage as Leicester dropped points on Tuesday night with a 2-2 draw at home against 13th placed West Bromich Albion.
The Hammers were looking to sabotage Tottenham’s ambitions of winning their first Premier League title but also to extend their unbeaten home record to 14 games.
Tottenham were looking to show everyone that they are serious title contenders but with this defeat they have missed the opportunity to go top of the table.
West Ham got off to a cracking start as star player Dimitri Payet whipped in a dangerous ball which in-form Michail Antonio got on the end of with an unstoppable header at Hugo Lloris’ near post. Lloris got a hand to it but could never prevent the net from bulging due to the power in the header.
Ragged
West Ham dominated the first half and were nearly two up on fifteen minutes when Mark Noble fancied his chances from long-range but his effort was tipped over the bar from Lloris.
Spurs were not looking convincing at all in this first half and were losing the ball consistently in midfield. Pochettino’s teams are known for their work-rate and pressing their opponents high up the pitch, however they were often pulled out of position by The Hammers and were getting run ragged.
Payet was running the show and was constantly looking to put Antonio and Emmanuel Emenike through on goal. Antonio netted again but his efforts were sadly ruled out for offside.
Spurs improved after the break, bearing in mind they could not get off a shot in the first period. Christian Eriksen was trying to make things happen but it seemed as though he was the only one. On the hour mark Tottenham finally had an attempt on goal as defender Toby Alderweireld’s shot was parried by Adrian with Harry Kane failing to exploit the rebound.
On the night the better side got the three points. This result means that Spurs have lost ground in the title race and West Ham’s surprising chance of a Champions League place are still alive in an unpredictable Premier League season.