HOOTING FROM THE SHIP
West Ham 1 Tottenham Hotspur 1
Ange hasn’t had it all his own way these last few weeks. First there was the 2-1 defeat at home to Wolves. Then the 3-0 reverse at Fulham, and finally a very juddery 2-1 home win over Luton, the winner coming just four minutes from time. Yes, an unexpected 4-0 away win at Villa, but his is an unpredictable side who still sit a couple of points outside Champions League qualification, with a game in hand on the four teams above them.
Brennan Johnson takes just five minutes to slot home Bentancur’s near post cross past Fabianski, but ‘Captain’ Kurt Zouma heads home Bowen’s corner quarter of an hour later. West Ham pile on the pressure and Ward-Prowse has another opportunity to equal Beckham’s direct free kick record, but this time is foiled by Vicario. Mavropanos has a headed effort saved by the knees of the Spurs’ keeper, with Antonio unable to respond quickly enough to turn home the spilled chance. Then a twenty-five yarder from Paquetá flashes inches wide of Vicario’s right hand post, and as the late finishes approaches Antonio finds himself one on one with Vicario, but disappointingly fires it straight into the body of the Spurs’ keeper, who is able to keep hold with all four Spurs’ defenders still out of the picture.
This is in retrospect probably a good point. West Ham are now on 45 points and occupy 7th position in the Premier League table, with the Europa League quarter-final fixture against the unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen a matter of days away. Something isn’t quite right, though. This is a game West Ham might easily have won in the last couple of seasons, but as it is, it’s their fifth home draw in 2024, just the 4-2 win over Brentford and 0-6 reverse against Arsenal varying from the repetitive outcomes.
If an alien had chanced into London Stadium this evening, they might have wondered just how this was a game between two sides challenging for a European place next season.
1 Lucasz Fabianski, 4 Kurt Zouma (captain), 5 Vladimir Coufal, 33 Emerson, 15 Konstantinos Mavropanos, 7 James Ward-Prowse, 10 Lucas Paquetá, 28 Tomas Souček, 9 Michail Antonio, 14 Mohammed Kudus, 20 Jarrod Bowen
Substitutes: None Used
Goalscorer: Kurt Zouma
