English Premier League

Tottenham 2 – 0 West Ham

Harry Kane scores in his 200th game for Spurs as they beat West Ham 2 – 0. Czech midfielder Tomas Soucek inadvertently converted into his own net following Giovani lo Celso’s corner and Harry Kane broke clear to stroke in his 18th goal of the season. Tottenham picked up their first victory in eight games to leave West Ham with a battle to stay in the Premier League.

With seven games remaining, the loss leaves the Hammers outside the relegation zone but only on goal difference with Bournemouth, Aston Villa and Norwich – who lie in the bottom three – all now have a game in hand over David Moyes‘ side. The hosts punished toothless West Ham, who threatened little but saw Jarrod Bowen strike a post as they pushed in vain for an equaliser before Kane struck.

Spurs boss Jose Mourinho will be delighted with a victory that takes them just six points off the Champions League places and with Kane’s goal, which was taken with his usual aplomb after he was put clear. It was also a sign of his increasing assurance in only his second match since a hamstring injury on 1 January. This was not a classic but Mourinho’s 300th victory in English football will have left him very satisfied as they have now picked up four points from two home games against Manchester United and West Ham United.

It was solid if not spectacular and he will have taken particular pleasure in Kane’s superbly taken second goal after the manager had to answer suggestions from former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson that the striker would not flourish under him. Spurs still face an uphill struggle to reach the top four but Mourinho will maintain belief and it is still within their reach.

Moyes struggling to inspire

West Ham have had two games since the Premier League resumed and both have produced grim results and performances that simply confirmed they will face a fight to stay up. This is a sterile side and the question is whether Moyes can summon up the inspiration from somewhere to keep the Hammers up.

West Ham will feel real injustice about the first Spurs goal, which deflected off Davinson Sanchez on to Soucek, which under the current video assistant referee rules should surely have been disallowed. However, it is clear Moyes and his players now have real problems.

‘Who is on VAR? Not very good…’ – what the managers said

Spurs boss Jose Mourinho to Sky Sports: “I am happy with the result, the clean sheet, it means the team is more solid, the players have less doubts. We played against a team with a coach with a lot of experience that organises teams in a very difficult way. I could predict that but they made it difficult for us.

“Our bench was rich, that helped me. To be honest, I don’t think it’s fair for West Ham to come here with 24 hours less to prepare than us. At the moment it is not nice.”

West Ham manager David Moyes to Sky Sports: “I’ve only just seen it [the opening goal] and I can’t believe they’ve ruled that as a goal. Any handball is disallowed? That’s the rule. Who is on VAR tonight? Not very good eh?

“Those are the rules, it’s not a particularly good rule but I can’t believe it. We had a goal disallowed at Sheffield United for the same rule.

“I thought the team worked really hard, we made it difficult for Tottenham, there were a lot of good things I can take from the game but it’s the points we needed.

What’s next?

Tottenham travel to Sheffield United on 2 July (kick-off 18:00 BST), while West Ham host Chelsea on 1 July (20:15).

Mourinho’s hold over Moyes – the stats

  • Spurs have won their first Premier League home game since 2 February v Manchester City
  • West Ham have lost seven consecutive away games in the Premier League for the first time since December 2006
  • Spurs have completed the league double over West Ham for the first time since 2012-13
  • Spurs boss Jose Mourinho has never lost against David Moyes in their 14 meetings (W9 D5) in all competitions – this is Mourinho’s best record against any manager
  • West Ham’s Mark Noble has received 11 yellow cards against Spurs in the Premier League; the most by a player for a team against a specific opponent in the competition
  • Harry Kane’s strike was his 30th goal in Premier League London derbies (48 appearances), meaning only Teddy Sheringham (32), Frank Lampard (32) and Thierry Henry (43) have netted more often in such matches in the competition’s history
  • Kane has now scored 137 goals in 200 appearances for Spurs in the Premier League – the only player in the competition’s history to have scored more after 200 games for a club is Sergio Aguero (138).

Source – BBC News

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