Fernando Llorente’s left-footed volley confirmed Spurs passage to face north London rivals Arsenal in the quarter-finals, after Lucas Perez had pulled one back for West Ham with a header. But it was South Korea international Son who stole the show, sweeping Dele Alli’s deft pass into the top corner to open the scoring.
Son Heung-min celebrated his 150th appearance for Tottenham with two goals as they eased past West Ham in the Carabao Cup.
Son then extended Tottenham’s lead in the second half, rounding West Ham goalkeeper Adrian after capitalising on a mistake from defender Arthur Masuaku. Colombia defender Davinson Sanchez was the only Tottenham player to start from the side that lost to Manchester City in the Premier League on Monday.
However, manager Mauricio Pochettino will have been encouraged by the performances of Christian Eriksen and in particular, Alli, who played a prominent role in Tottenham’s opening two goals on his first start since the club’s third-round win over Watford on 26 September.
While West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini named a strong side after saying he was taking the competition “very seriously”, it proved a difficult evening for the hosts.
At times the purposeful running of wingers Michail Antonio and academy product Grady Diangana threatened to unlock the Spurs defence but West Ham’s end product lacked precision.
Antonio got into good positions but was twice denied a first-half equaliser by visiting goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga. And it was only when the Hammers went two goals down, and introduced Marko Arnautovic, that they briefly looked capable of engineering a revival.
But while Perez’s header raised the roof inside the London Stadium, West Ham were unable to repeat last term’s EFL Cup heroics, when they came back from a two-goal deficit to defeat Tottenham.
‘We made too many mistakes’ – what they said
West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini: “We dominated the game but in that moment Tottenham scored the first goal. After that we continued fighting but we made another mistake for the second goal.
“I think we made too many mistakes to win this game but at least we continued trying to play in the same way. “Maybe they made 10 changes but if you see the names they played – they are names and have qualities for their starting team.”
The Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino: “I feel very happy, to play two competitive games in 48 hours, Manchester City and then a London derby, I feel very proud.
“The performance was very good, always we try to play better but for different circumstances we have to be happy. Some players are working so hard, trying to wait for their opportunity, and then Davinson Sanchez played two games in 48 hours – and he was fantastic. I can’t praise him enough.”
On facing Arsenal, Pochettino added: “It will be an exciting game, exciting to play Arsenal and face Unai Emery.
“He’s a top manager and a good friend, and he’s doing a great job. I think he is one of the greatest managers.”
Son ends barren run – the stats
- Spurs have reached the League Cup quarter-final for the first time since 2014-15, when they eventually lost in the final to Chelsea.
- West Ham have lost consecutive competitive matches against Spurs for the first time since February 2013.
- West Ham’s Lucas Perez has been directly involved in five goals in his six games in the League Cup (four goals, one assist).
- Son Heung-min scored his first goals for Spurs since March, ending a run of 19 games in all competitions without a goal.
- Spurs’ Son Heung-min has been directly involved in five goals in his last three games in all competitions versus West Ham (three goals, two assists).
Source: BBC News
