SPURS GET BATTERED BUT SOMEHOW THEY WIN
Tottenham 2 West Ham 1
I had forgotten how much my enmity is for Tottenham since West Ham had started to wave them aside over the last few years like a breath of foul air. Tonight the old memories return unexpectedly with a vengeance. The news that Antonio, who has become a regular thorn bird in the Spurs’ hide, remains down with the Covid, is unwelcome to say the least.
Antonio Conte was Chelsea manager when West Ham won their first high level game at London Stadium back in 2016. But why should that be a bad omen? Probably because I just mentioned it. Let it be recorded here that the impulse to articulate a thought and give it residence in the imagination should always be resisted. Remember that to win a trophy you need someone else to eliminate the favourites. You don’t want the winning of an early round tie to be your highlight of the competition. You want to be winning the damned thing.
And so it is that Spurs take the lead on 29 minutes when Steven Bergwijn finishes off a five man move around the six yard box with Hammers’ static defence are helpless to put a stop to. Despite the profligacy, West Ham pile back and Soucek is twice denied by Lloris tip-overs from great headers.
Just seconds later Hanmers are level just two minutes later when Bowen controls Vlasič’s misguided shot, turning swiftly to bury the chance past Lloris. The third goal in five minutes comes a minute later when Bergwijn weaves his way past Lanzini and Masuaku to set up Moura, who has escaped Johnson and executes a close range tap in.
In the second half West Ham camp out in Spurs’ half but despite the efforts from Benrahma and the brilliant Declan Rice, Spurs, and in particular Lloris, offer no way through. It looks increasingly as the seconds tick away like a moment decreed by fate rather than the straightforward passage of play in an ordinary football match.
The match stats at the end look like an act of grand larceny. Hammers have had nearly 60% of the play and twice as many attempts on goal as Spurs. If the struggling Antonio returns from the Cut-Throat Covid to turn Southampton into mush on Boxing Day, it might well have proved worthwhile, but for the uninitiated this evening’s game looks like a pre-ordained disappointment. There may be more before Hammers begin their annual bounce back in 2022.
13 Alphonse Areola, 23 Arthur Masuaku, 31 Ben Johnson, 41 Declan Rice (c), 15 Craig Dawson, 23 Issa Diop, 28 Tomas Souček, 10 Manuel Lanzini, 11 Nikola Vlašić, 20 Jarrod Bowen, 50 Harrison Ashby
Substitutes: 7 Andriy Yarmolenko, 22 Saïd Benrahma, 8 Pablo Fornals
Goalscorer: Jarrod Bowen
