Spurs stage thrilling second-half comeback to stun 10-man West Ham
Spurs have had a fortnight to mull over a chastening 3-2 defeat, in which they surrendered a 2-0 HT lead to Brighton & Hove Albion last time out. This, therefore, felt like an important clash against a West Ham side that breezed past Ipswich Town 4-1 in their previous game.
The early stages were evenly matched, with Brennan Johnson firing a fierce volley narrowly wide from a tight angle before Mohammed Kudus forced a brilliant stop from Guglielmo Vicario.
However, the Ghana international was not to be denied when bundling Jarrod Bowen’s low cross home after 18 minutes to give his side the advantage.
In front of their own supporters, Spurs were eager not to drop more points and immediately went in search of an equaliser. Johnson – who had scored in each of the past seven matches for Tottenham – shouldered an attempt wide from close range before Alphonse Areola denied Pedro Porro’s deflected effort.
However, the shot-stopper was unable to keep out Dejan Kulusevski’s low drive from the edge of the box despite getting a hand to it.
Now with the bit between their teeth, Tottenham almost moved in front before the break when Porro acrobatically volleyed an attempt just over the crossbar.
At the interval, Ange Postecoglou made the bold move of bringing off playmaker James Maddison for the more industrious Pape Matar Sarr. While neither made an immediate individual impact, Spurs certainly didn’t appear to be missing the England international as they scored twice within 10 minutes of the restart.
First, Yves Bissouma side-footed Destiny Udogie’s pass to the edge of the box beyond Areola for his second Tottenham goal before Jean-Clair Todibo unwittingly poked the ball beyond his goalkeeper after Son Heung-min’s shot was saved.
Son could hardly take much credit for the third goal, but the fourth was all his own doing. After being released by Sarr, the captain drove into the penalty area, shifted the ball onto his left foot, and hammered through Areola.
By this point, West Ham were at sixes and sevens, and only the post prevented Son from grabbing his second of the game and his team’s fifth. With the game won, Postecoglou made several changes as he looked to keep his team fresh.
Although there were no more goals, things went from bad to worse for West Ham when Kudus was sent off for pushing both Micky van de Ven and Sarr in the face.
This was exactly what the doctor ordered for Tottenham, as they brushed off that Brighton defeat with an impressive display. West Ham, meanwhile, continue to struggle for consistency in the post-David Moyes era, having conceded 15 goals in their eight league games this campaign, winning on just two occasions.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Dejan Kulusevski (Tottenham Hotspur)
