Many thanks to Declan Mulcahy for this report:-

Saturday 19 October 2024, 12:30pm
Premier League
Tottenham Hotspur (1) 4 West Ham United (1) 1

Spurs scorers:-
Kulusevski, 36
Bissouma, 52
Areola, 55 o.g
Son, 60

West Ham scorer:-
Kudus, 18

Tottenham Hotspur (4-4-3):
1 G Vicario; 23 Pedro Porro, 17 C Romero, 37 M van de Ven, 13 D Udogie (14 A. Gray 88); 21 D Kulusevski, 10 J Maddison (29 P Sarr 45), 8 Y Bissouma (30 R Bentancur 81); 22 B Johnson, 19 D Solanke (9 Richarlison 81), 7 H Son Heung-Min (c) (16 T Werner 70)

Subs not used: 20 F Forster 6 R Dragusin, 15 L Bergvall, 47 M Moore

Booked: van de Ven (84 confrontation with Kudus)
Captains armband to Romero (70)

West Ham United (4-1-4-1): Julen Lopetegui

23 A Areola; 29 A Wan-Bissaka, 26 M Kilman 25 J Todibo, 33 Emerson, 24 G Rodriguez (15 K Mavropanos 71); 20 J Bowen (c), 28 T Soucek 56 (4 Carlos Soler 61), 10 Lucas Paqueta 43 (E Álvarez 61), 14 M. Kudus 86; 9 M Antonio (7 C. Summerville 61)

Subs not used: 1. Fabianski, 5 V Coufal, 3 A Cresswell, 17 Luis Guilherme, 18 D Ings

Booked: Lucas Paqueta (43 pulled back Johnson), Soucek (56 foul on Johnson), Soler (67 foul on Sarr)

Sent Off: Kudus (86 violent conduct pushed van de Ven in the face)

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Attendance: 61,381

Referee: Andy Madley. Assistants: Nick Hopton, Wade Smith. Fourth official: Craig Pawson. VAR: Chris Kavanagh. Assistant VAR: Mat Wilkes.

Impressive Spurs hammer the Hammers

After the poor second half against Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League two weeks ago, when having led 2-0 at half time Spurs conceded three goals in the second half and lost, a strong response was needed. Spurs displayed the necessary character today.

The first half was somewhat tentative. Spurs conceded an early goal but drew level before the interval. After a significant change at the break Spurs overwhelmed the Hammers winning 4-1. They are now in seventh place in the Premier League table just four points off the top four.

Ange Postecoglou made two changes after the disappointing performance in Brighton. Yves Bissouma replaced Rodrigo Bentancur and the captain Heung-min Son having recovered from a hamstring injury took over from Timo Werner. There was further good news as Richarlison who had been out with a knee injury since the Everton game in August returned to the substitutes bench.

West Ham's best display this season was their 4-1 victory over Ipswich Town the weekend before the international break. So it wasn't a surprise that Julen Lopetegui named an unchanged eleven.

Spurs had a couple of early chances. Porro on the right attempted to set up Solanke in the box but the Fulham goalkeeper Areola intercepted his pass. Brennan had the ball in the box but his angled shot went past the far post.

West Ham took the lead after 18 minutes. Bowen crossed from the right and Kudus scored with a shot which squeezed in at the left post. It was a frustrating goal to concede for a number of reasons. Johnson had an opportunity to get to the ball before Kudus but couldn't connect. Porro was on the goal line but couldn't prevent the ball from entering the net. About eight minutes earlier Bowen had again set up Kudus from the right and Vicario had to make a diving save to keep out Kudus' strong shot. This earlier shot should have forewarned the Spurs players of the threat from the combination of Bowen and Kudus.

Maddison crossed the ball to Johnson but his shot was blocked by a Hammers defender. Then Udogie sent a high cross towards Johnson. He rose to try and connect with a header but the ball hit his shoulder and deflected for a corner.

Johnson had scored in the last six matches, the first Spurs player to do so since Harry Kane in January 2019. The Spurs player players were clearly trying to help him score for a seventh consecutive game. The last player to do so was Garth Crooks between December 1984 and January 1985. Sadly Johnson was unable to extend his scoring sequence.

Spurs equalised ten minutes before the break. Maddison was the creator setting up Kulusevski on the right. His shot hit the right post. Areola had gone to ground but couldn't get a hand to the ball. It then ran parallel to the goal line hit the other post and trickled in. It was deserved equaliser.

Spurs had twelve corners during the first half all taken by Maddison. None of them posed any threat to West Ham and the failure to take advantage of a significant number of set pieces was frustrating. The first half ended 1-1.

There was one change for the second half. Postecoglou replaced Maddison with Papp Sarr. The change was tactical rather than due to injury. It is the earliest that Postecoglou has replaced Maddison for tactical reasons. The latter deserved credit for setting up Kulusevski's equaliser. However the quality of the many corners in the first half may have been a factor in the substitution.

Kulusevski took over the role of principal creator with Bissouma and Sarr providing defensive solidity. Spurs soon took a grip on the game which they didn't relinquish.

Seven minutes after the interval Spurs took the lead. Son made a foray down the left and crossed the ball to Udogie in the box near the goal line. He cut the ball back and Bissouma running at an angle scored with a shot similar to his effort against Everton in August.

Lopetegui reacted immediately and had three substitutes mobilised to make changes on the pitch. However events overtook him.

Within two minutes and twenty-four seconds of taking the lead Kulesevski set up Son. His shot was spilled by Areola. Todibo's attempted clearance went goal bound and hit the unfortunate Areola before entering the net. The own goal was initially charged to Todibo but then credited to Areola.

Minutes later Sarr on the left set up Son who made one of his typical runs into the box rounded Todibo and scored a fine individual goal. Immediately after the restart Son again was well placed in the box but his shot hit the post.

While this goal-scoring mayhem was taking place Lopetegui's three substitutes were standing unused on the touchline. By the time they got on their team was three goals down rather than one, which was too late.

A few minutes later there was an initial slight scare in the Spurs box. Kudus unleashed a shot which hit Udogie's arm. His arm was down in a natural position and he was quite close to Kudus at the time. VAR correctly decided that it wasn't a penalty.

With twenty minutes left Postecoglou substituted Son. The result was not in doubt and with the prospect of two games a week over the next few weeks it was better to protect Son. Werner replaced him. Porro soon crossed from the right but Werner's header was neither a goal attempt nor an opportunity for another player.

By this point the West Ham supporters were leaving in droves.

With ten minutes remaining Richarlison replaced Solanke but didn't have any real opportunities.

The game had been a good-natured affair so far. With eight minutes remaining this changed. Kudus who had been West Ham's best player to date had a coming together with van de Ven. In the aftermath he stood on van de Ven's foot. The latter was not at all impressed and the two players stood up to each other. Kudus put his hand in van de Ven's face. This unleashed a melee of about sixteen players pushing and shoving and Richarlison was knocked over perhaps unintentionally.

Referee Andy Madley initially booked both Kudus and van de Ven to the crowd's displeasure in van de Ven's case.

Chris Kavanagh the VAR advised Madley to review the footage of the confrontation on the pitch-side screen. The footage showed that Kudus had completely lost his composure. Not only had he pushed van de Ven in the face to start the fracas but as it progressed he had done the same to Sarr. Referee Madley cancelled the yellow card for Kudus and deservedly sent him off for violent conduct.

Gray replaced Udogie before the 90 minutes were up and deep into injury time Porro conjured up a final attempt for Johnson to score in a seventh game but his header was wide.

This was a very good win and the second half ranks as one of the best halves so far this season. It did stem from a surprising change with Maddison being substituted at half time and Kulusevski taking over the main creative role.

There is no doubt that Maddison is a talented player - a good creator and striker of dead-balls. However there are issues with his consistency and his ability to maintain his quality throughout the game.

Kulusevski offers something different. He is energetic and relentless. He is in the top ten so far this season for distance covered by a player. For players who have played at least four Premier League games this season only Thomas Soucek comes within half a kilometre of the total distance he has covered. In the Manchester United and Brentford matches he covered the greatest distance of any player this season 13.2km and 12.6 km respectively.

Of course not everything Kulusevski tries comes off but he keeps going for the full ninety minutes and the opposition can never relax when he is near the ball. As he showed today he can be a very effective creative player.

On today's showing Postecoglou may decide Maddison and Kulusevski could be alternated in the creative midfielder role rather than just Maddison.

This was the first of seven matches to be played over the next three weeks. If Spurs can maintain this form over that period, and it's always an if, the club could be in a good position by the next international break.

West Ham's situation is considerably bleaker. During 2024 they have played 27 Premier League matches. They have only won five of those games and none against teams in the top half of the table. Their best player today is now facing a three-match suspension for stupidly losing his head.

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