MY ACCOUNT
Tomas Soucek’s strike earned West Ham a 1-1 draw against Tottenham and prevented their London rivals from making their best-ever start to a Premier League season after five matches.
Antonio Conte’s side led at half-time at London Stadium through a Thilo Kehrer own goal at the end of a slick attacking move from Spurs, who earlier had a penalty awarded and contentiously overturned.
But Soucek fired past Hugo Lloris in the 55th minute to get West Ham back on level terms and the hosts, who brought on club-record signing Lucas Paqueta for his debut, looked the more likely to win the match from that point.
Despite failing to see out the win, Spurs remain unbeaten on 11 points from five matches, while West Ham are up to four points for the season after recovering from a poor start that saw them lose three straight games without scoring.
Tottenham were awarded a penalty with 11 minutes played when Harry Kane’s downward header hit the outstretched arm of Aaron Cresswell.
However, after a lengthy VAR check, referee Peter Bankes reversed the decision seemingly due to the ball hitting Cresswell’s head before it touched his arm.
West Ham tested Lloris through Pablo Fornals and Declan Rice attempts either side of that decision, while Michail Antonio curled a shot against the outside of the post.
It was the visitors who took the lead before half-time, though, as Kane’s pass into the middle was inadvertently turned home by Kehrer before Son Heung-min could do likewise.
David Moyes’ side hit back 10 minutes into the second half as Antonio flicked a throw-in into the path of Soucek, who settled himself before firing past Lloris.
With Pacqueta introduced, West Ham pushed for a winner and went close to finding one when Fornals fired off target from a glorious position in a let-off for the still-unbeaten Spurs.
What does it mean? Soucek denies Spurs
Tottenham were on course to make it 13 points from five games after Kehrer’s own goal, which would have been their best start to a season at this stage.
West Ham had other ideas, though, and they were good value for their point, coming on the back of a morale-boosting 1-0 victory at Aston Villa last weekend.
David Moyes will feel his side should have won the match given they had an expected goals (xG) value of 1.3 compared to Spurs’ 0.6, but it can still be considered a positive point.
Box specialist Soucek
Soucek has scored 19 Premier League goals for West Ham, a tally bettered only by Antonio (29) and Jarrod Bowen (21) since the central midfielder’s debut in February 2020.
Each of those goals have been scored inside the 18-yard box – only Tony Cottee scored more for West Ham in the competition with 100 per cent from inside the box (23/23).
Son’s goalless streak goes on
Kane played a crucial role in Kehrer’s own goal but it was otherwise a frustrating day for the England international, who had a game-high five shots without scoring.
That is four shots more than team-mate Son managed, with the forward now five games without a goal this season, and just the solitary assist to his name from the opening day.
What’s next?
Both sides have another London derby on Saturday, with West Ham travelling to Chelsea and Spurs hosting Fulham.
