Tottenham overcome West Ham to climb into Champions League places

Updated: Oct 12, 2023, 10:21 am

Tottenham moved into the Premier League top four with a 2-0 home win over West Ham United in a mostly cagey affair on Sunday.

Both sides struggled to find an attacking rhythm in the first-half with Spurs registering the only two shots on target in the opening period.

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However Spurs, who were again without head coach Antonio Conte on the sideline, looked livelier in the second half, missing a pair of good chances before defender Emerson Royal slotted home on 56 minutes.

Son Heung-Min was benched in favour of Richarlison to start the match, but was introduced just after the hour mark and took four minutes to get on the scoresheet with a cool finish into the bottom right corner.

It was a big win for Tottenham following defeat at Leicester City and a midweek loss away to AC Milan in the Champions League and allowed them to leapfrog Newcastle United into fourth place in the Premier League.

The visitors had started the derby brightly with Jarrod Bowen wasting an early chance but offered little and have now won only once in their last 11 league games with pressure mounting on manager David Moyes.

Had Bowen scored early on when well positioned instead of shooting wide, West Ham might have capitalised on a Tottenham team who have struggled desperately for consistency.

Spurs were far better in the second half, but Harry Kane and Richarlison wasted chances before a flowing move gave the hosts the lead.

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg's superb pass released Ben Davies down the left and his pass was perfectly weighted for Emerson to coolly slot a shot past goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.

The second goal was from a much more familiar link-up as Kane's pass released Son and the South Korea international fired a right-foot shot into the net.

It was only Son's fifth league goal of the season, with three of his other efforts coming in a hat-trick off the bench in a home win against Leicester City.

Spurs have 42 points from 24 games, one more than Newcastle who have a game in hand. West Ham are in 18th with 20 points from 23 matches, a point below the safety zone.

West Ham sit in 18th place with 20 points from 23 matches, a point below the safety zone behind Bournemouth and Everton, who are each on 21 points.