Peep peep! Another half of toil and trouble for Spurs, who had most of the ball but did little with it. Michail Antonio’s early goal allowed West Ham to sit in and play on the break, just the way they like it. See you in 10 minutes for the second half.
45+2 min: Fine save from Fabianski! Kane, on the edge of a crowded penalty area, shifts the ball to the side and hits a cracking low shot across goal. Fabianski gets down really smartly to his right to push it away. The resulting corner is headed wide by Dier in front of the near post.
43 min Reguilon’s pass infield finds its way to Lamela, who hits a sweet first-time curler from 22 yards. Fabianski plunges to his right to make a good save.
38 min Cresswell’s outswinging corner is thumped towards goal by the head of Dawson, forcing Lloris to push the ball over the bar. It was a comfortable enough save. The second corner is headed on at the near post by Diop and drifts across the penalty area to safety.
32 min Antonio is fouled by Sanchez 22 yards from goal. The free-kick is in line with the left edge of the penalty area, so I’d expect a cross from Cresswell.
27 min Reguilon’s cross is handled by Bowen just outside the area on the left. Son’s free-kick is blocked at the near post and then Lucas Moura spanks a shot over the bar from 25 yards.
42 – All 42 of Michail Antonio’s Premier League goals have come from inside the box – in the competition’s history, only Tim Cahill (56), Chicharito (53) and Gabriel Jesus (45) have scored more with all of them coming from inside the box. Poachers. #WHUTOTpic.twitter.com/lpiGzpvMog
16 min A Spurs corner leads to a scramble in the area. There’s a nasty clash of heads between Soucek – who is bleeding profusely above his left eye – and Sanchez. Play is allowed to continue and Kane has a snapshot blocked by Soucek, who jumped straight to his feet after the clash of the heads. Now play has stopped and Soucek is receiving treatment.
14 min Rice clips a pass over the top to put Bowen through on goal, but his first touch is poor and the Spurs defenders are able to get back. That was another great chance for West Ham.
13 min: Just wide from Kane! Spurs almost equalise on the break. Lamela ran a long way and slid an angled pass through to Kane on the edge of the area. With Diop backpedalling, Kane cut across a fierce shot that swerved just wide of the near post.
12 min “I found it amusing when Moyes was asked in the build-up if he was pleased that Chelsea had dropped points yesterday,” says Brad McMillan. “He just chuckled, as if he’d only just realised quite how well his team have done this year. He must be pinching himself now.”
10 min Another chance for West Ham. Antonio wins a 50/50 with Hojbjerg and plays in Lingard on the left side of the area. He pokes the ball tamely across goal and wide of the far post. I think he was trying to find Antonio, though a shot would probably have been the better option.
9 min Reguilon plays a good ball down the line to Lamela, whose chipped cross is booted up in the air by the stretching Cresswell. Fabianski comes from his line to claim the loose ball.
Bowen’s wicked inswinging cross from the right was met by Antonio, who stretched to poke a volley towards goal from close range. Lloris made a good save but Antonio was able to roof the rebound from a couple of yards.
“Excited about today’s game,” writes Yash Gupta. “After all the bad results I thought maybe Rodon, Alli or Bale might be back in the lineup, but I guess Mourinho has not made those changes to see how Moura and especially Sanchez respond after what happened last week. If they don’t respond well, they can finally join Winks and Sissoko on the bench or maybe even out of the squad.”
Michail Antonio returns up front for West Ham, who have switched to a back four. Spurs make one change from the team that was hammered at Manchester City last weekend: Sergio Reguilon replaces Ben Davies at left-back.
Only Manchester City have taken more points than West Ham in 2021. David Moyes’ team have won six of their eight Premier League games this year, and another victory today would move them into the top four. The top four! There’s a long way to go before they start playing the Champions League theme at the London Stadium, but so far it’s been an exceptional season for West Ham.
One of the few things they haven’t done is beat one of the Big Six (though they did win at Leicester and Everton). They will hope to rectify that against a Spurs side who have been in desperate form. Spurs have lost four of the last five in the league, although you’d expect them to improve now that Harry Kane is back. For Jose Mourinho’s sake, they need to.
Be First to Comment