West Ham 1 Tottenham 1
At a rain-soaked London Stadium, David Moyes’ side welcomed Tottenham for a capital derby. Both sides were looking for points to try and secure their qualification for European football next season. Although The Hammers still had a Europa League quarter-final to look forward to.
Kudus stole the ball off Porro early on and strode towards the byline. As he whipped in a low cross, Antonio missed it and Bowen seemed surprised to have the ball at his feet. As a result, it hit his shin and went wide of the Tottenham goal.
The visitors came forward for their first attack and Wener dropped the shoulder before crossing across the six yard box. Johnson ghosted in behind Emerson and tapped into the net to give Spurs the lead in this London derby.
It had all looked so easy for Ange Postecoglou’s side as they opened up West Ham easier than a tin of tuna. All was going according to plan for the North London outfit who were looking to put some pressure on Aston Villa above them in fourth place.
Credit: @premierleague
Tottenham grew in confidence after the goal and Son worked the ball to Porro on the edge of the box. He drilled a shot across the greasy surface but it narrowly missed the far post, but not by much at all. So close to doubling the visitors’ lead with Fabianski at full-stretch.
If there is a weak underbelly to this Tottenham team, it is their defending at set pieces. As Bowen whipped in a cross, Zouma met it to score the equaliser. It would be nice to say it was his head but the replay clearly shows it coming off his back. Either way, The Hammers were level.
The ticking time bomb that is Cristian Romero was then penalised for a clumsy challenge on Jarrod Bowen. James Ward Prowse stepped up to take the free kick and was only ever going to go for goal from this range. Vicario beat the ball out to keep the scores level.
At times the new Tottenham keeper makes some brilliant saves but on crosses and seemingly simple shots at him, he claws the ball away like it is a wet bar of soap. With the amount of rain hammering down, he could be forgiven on this occasion.
Antonio looked to test the visitors’ keeper early on in the second half but his thunderous shot was again beaten away by Vicario. Paqueta almost beat the Spurs’ stopper, only to see his effort narrowly fizz past the top corner of the goal. West Ham were asking questions now.
Then came the chance of the second half. As Paqueta seemed to bundle a Tottenham player over on the edge of his own box, he played a direct pass up to Antonio. As he managed to get away from van de Ven, he only had Vicario to beat.
Credit: @premierleague
The West Ham striker hit a tame shot straight at the keeper when he really should have been scoring. Tottenham would have been raging had he finished the chance as they felt they were due a free kick themselves in the build-up.
Postecoglou’s side had the chance to win the game as Kulusevski’s cross was pulled out of the air by Maddison. It fell to Udogie in the middle of the goal but his shot was straight at Fabianski. The defender stood with his head in his hands.
Both sides shared the points, West Ham will see it more of a positive than Spurs. After winning on the weekend against Luton Town, Tottenham were unable to put back to back wins together to cement their challenge for a top four spot.
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