Son limps off as West Ham sweep aside tepid Tottenham

Tottenham 1-2 West Ham (Romero 11’| Bowen 52′, Ward-Prowse 74′)

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM — It turns out that a spirited point at the Etihad was not the turning point that Tottenham hoped it would be. You know things are bad when David Moyes wins away against a “Big Six” side.

As has often been the case throughout this nightmarish run, Ange Postecoglou’s makeshift team did plenty right. But West Ham’s second half turnaround in North London means Spurs have gone five games and over six weeks without a win and are level with perpetually crisis-hit Manchester United in the table. It was all going so well.

Spurs began at a ferocious tempo. Dejan Kulusevski had the first glimpse of a chance inside 40 seconds and Destiny Udogie’s rampaging runs forward left Vladimir Coufal’s head spinning, before Cristian Romero provided a tangible reward for Spurs’ dominance.

West Ham supporters had begun the game by taunting their rivals – “Champions of Europe, you’ll never sing that!” to patronising cheers – but were soon silenced when Romero looped a header, slow motion style past the deputising Lukasz Fabianski who displayed all the agility of a veteran sumo wrestler in trying to stop it.

It was the Argentine’s reckless red against Chelsea that initiated Tottenham’s November night from hell against Chelsea and initially at least, his return was very welcome. Fabianski had to be alert to deny Son Heung-min, Giovani Lo Celso and Brennan Johnson, while Kurt Zouma shinned a Lo Celso cross onto the bar. By half-time, the possession stats read: Tottenham 76 per cent, West Ham 24.

The Moyes mantra did not change despite the early goal: West Ham counter-attacked through the speedy Mohammed Kudus and peppered the box with crosses. A combination of the two almost yielded an equaliser, Kudus picking out Lucas Paqueta who mistimed his header while utilising an unorthodox belly flop manoeuvre.

Moyes tweaked his overly cautious tactics at half-time and the rewards were almost immediate. Jarrod Bowen hared after a Paqueta up-and-under, bumped Romero out of the way, fed Kudus to have a shot on goal and was then on hand to smash in the leveller after the ball had ricocheted into his path via Spurs’ centre-backs. The away goal king – seven goals in seven away games this season – was never going to miss.

Suddenly it felt as a London derby under the lights should. Momentum swung West Ham’s way and Spurs, after an impressive and largely stress-free first half, suddenly looked like a team missing four key starters and a handful of others.

After Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg ceded possession carelessly twice in quick succession, Postecoglou summoned Richarlison. Break glass in case of emergency not expectation. The Brazilian should have scored with his first touch but nodded a pinpoint Pedro Porro cross wide. If only Spurs still had England’s rather than Brazil’s No 9.

James Ward-Prowse then delivered the punishing blow. It was another mess of Tottenham’s making, Udogie’s under-hit backpass forced Guglielmo Vicario into a panicked rush and Ward-Prowse was on hand to play a one-two with the post before tapping into the net. Son limped off to compound an evening of misery.

“Tottenham Hotspur, it’s happened again,” chanted the gleeful visitors. The home fans sat silently in agreement. January and the returns of James Maddison and Micky van de Ven cannot come soon enough.