Agency Report
Tottenham roared back from behind to beat West Ham 4-1 on Saturday, overrunning their London rivals in the second half to ease the pain of their recent collapse against Brighton.
A third win in four Premier League games lifted Ange Postecoglou’s men to sixth in the table ahead of the later kick-offs but heaps the pressure on new West Ham coach Julen Lopetegui.
Victory for Spurs comes after they blew a 2-0 lead in a 3-2 defeat at Brighton in their final league game before the international break.
The teams were level at half-time at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after Mohammed Kudus’s opener against the run of play was cancelled out by the impressive Dejan Kulusevski.
But the match changed complexion in a frantic spell early in the second half when Yves Bissouma, an own goal from Alphonse Areola and a fourth from Son Heung-min took the game away from West Ham.
Tottenham were in control of the match early on and in-form Brennan Johnson flashed a shot narrowly wide on six minutes.
But West Ham played their part in an absorbingly open contest, giving their hosts a scare when Jarrod Bowen surged down the right and cut back to Kudus, whose stinging shot was palmed away by Guglielmo Vicario.
Tottenham captain Son went close shortly afterwards after creating space for himself but it was the visitors who broke the deadlock, making their opponents pay for not learning their lessons.
Kudus found the net for the second successive game in the 18th minute following more good work down the right by Bowen, whose shot deflected into the path of the Ghana international.
Johnson should have equalised shortly before the half-hour mark but he mistimed his header from close range, with the ball coming off his shoulder.
As Tottenham continued to press, Pedro Porro unleashed a shot from range, which took a wicked deflection but West Ham goalkeeper Areola reacted sharply to keep it out.
But Spurs got the equaliser they deserved about 10 minutes from half time.
West Ham lost the ball while on the attack and James Maddison surged forward to feed Kulusevski, whose shot came off the goalkeeper’s hand and the inside of both posts.
A measure of Tottenham’s dominance during the first half was that they won 12 corners to two for West Ham.
Postecoglou replaced Maddison with Pape Sarr at half-time in a tactical switch and Tottenham were quickly in charge.
Son played a lovely pass with the outside of his right foot to find Destiny Udogie, whose calm cut-back was met by Bissouma, who stroked the ball home in the 52nd minute.
Lopetegui prepared to make a triple change but did not have time before an own goal from Areola following a mix-up in the penalty area made the score 3-1 three minutes later.
South Korean international Son extended Tottenham’s lead when Sarr sent him clear and he beat the defender before squeezing his shot past Areola.
Kudus was shown a straight red in the final minutes after a VAR check following a melee, compounding a bad day for the visitors, who have just two wins from eight Premier League matches this season.
AFP
