MY ACCOUNT
Tottenham were jubilant as a 3-1 victory over West Ham saw them jump right back into contention for the Premier League top four.
A Kurt Zouma own goal and two Heung-Min Son strikes were enough to win the London derby despite Said Benrahma netting for the Hammers.
With the game in North London proving potentially pivotal in the race to secure Champions League football, we have picked out five talking points.
Tale of two striking options
As has so often been the case in recent months, Harry Kane and Son were the reason for another impressive Spurs win.
Kane provided the cross for the game’s opener before teeing up both of the South Korean’s goals — the eighth and ninth strike they have managed between them in the last five league games.
In contrast, West Ham’s lone man up front Michail Antonio has now gone 10 games without a Premier League goal to his name.
He certainly had opportunities to end that drought on Sunday too, firing a right-footed shot just wide of the post before failing to keep a side-footed effort down in the second half — seeing him substituted by David Moyes after just 56 minutes.
Asked if it was a pre-arranged move to help manage Antonio’s fitness, the Hammers boss told Sky Sports: “No. I just didn’t think he was contributing enough to the team.”
Goalscorers win games and Tottenham’s superiority in that regard is a big reason why they are now looking in a much stronger position for the top four.
Europa League hangover
It has been a memorable season for West Ham and their midweek Europa League extra-time victory over Sevilla was the latest chapter of that, but it looked as though it may have caught up with them on Sunday.
The East Londoners looked lethargic in gifting Spurs an opener after just nine minutes and then struggled to force their way back in to the game after that.
West Ham (44) and Spurs (45) have both played many more games this term than their top-four rivals Arsenal (35) and Manchester United (40).
And it looked like 120 minutes and the three-day turnaround — compared to the four Spurs had — worked against the visitors here.
Moyes was left angered by his team’s sloppy start, saying: “It’s the opening part of the game that showed it [the tiredness]. I’m incredibly disappointed. If you’re the Under-11s coach you would be disappointed with it.”
Doing the January business
If the importance of strengthening mid-season was in any doubt, both Tottenham and West Ham laid that bare.
Despite a growing injury list, West Ham brought no new faces to the capital in January while Spurs secured late deals for Juventus pair Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski.
Those two arrivals look to have invigorated Spurs and the class the duo possess was clear to see in this victory.
Uruguayan midfielder Bentancur won possession nine times, came out on top in two aerial duels and completed 89 passes in a classy display.
Moreover, Kulusevski is looking more and more worthy to being Kane and Son’s third musketeer after creating two chances and being heavily involved throughout.
Moyes must have been tearing his hair out as he watched his stretched squad lose further ground.
European focus
That is not to say West Ham now have nothing to play for this season, far from it.
Having dumped LaLiga giants Sevilla out of the Europa League, Moyes’ men are one of the favourites to now go on and win the competition, ahead of a two-legged quarter-final against Lyon.
But the defeat to Spurs seems fatal for their Champions League qualification via their league finish as it leaves them six points behind fourth-placed Arsenal having played two games more.
Being able to put more of their efforts into one competition may serve as a blessing for the depleted Hammers, something Moyes alluded to after the defeat.
The Scot said: “It should be put as how well West Ham have done to stay in the race until the last part of the season and maybe for the first time they have dropped out of the running for the top four.
“Because in truth, we have been in that bracket, but you would never see West Ham being a top-four side.”
Top-four race is not over
Spurs’ target is now a similarly simple one.
Arsenal’s narrow victory over Aston Villa early on Saturday sparked jubilant celebrations from Gunners players and fans as they seemed to take a giant stride towards Champions League football.
But their rivals responded in emphatic style the next day with a statement win which signalled that fourth is far from decided.
Spurs are now just three points behind the Gunners and while Mikel Arteta’s men have a game in hand, the pair are still due to face off in what will be a blockbuster North London derby.
And Antonio Conte revealed that is the solitary target for his team in their final nine games.
The Italian said: “There are nine games to go and for us every game has to be a final.
“I want to make this target, the race for fourth place. We know the difficulty to reach this target. Tottenham needs to have the ambition to play the best competition.”
