West Ham 2 Spurs 1: Pressure ramps up on Mourinho as Lingard scores again to send Hammers up to fourth
JESSE LINGARD put one over his old Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho as he boosted West Ham’s top four hopes. The on-loan Red Devil scored what proved to be the decisive goal when he fired the Hammers 2-0 up at the start of the second half. It gave Irons boss David Moyes his first win […]
JESSE LINGARD put one over his old Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho as he boosted West Ham’s top four hopes.
The on-loan Red Devil scored what proved to be the decisive goal when he fired the Hammers 2-0 up at the start of the second half.
It gave Irons boss David Moyes his first win over Spurs chief Mourinho in 16 attempts.
But, the hosts were made to fight all the way after Lucas Moura pulled one back for Tottenham.
And Spurs went close to snatching a point when Gareth Bale hit the bar with a late shot.
With goalless draws between these two a rarity – only two in the last 20 years – you had the feeling this would not be a stalemate.
And so it proved as West Ham took just five minutes to open the scoring when Michail Antonio smashed in the rebound after Hugo Lloris had blocked his close-range touch from Jarrod Bowen’s wicked inswinging centre.
The Hammers should have doubled their lead five minutes later but unselfish Lingard made a hash of a square pass to Antonio in the box – when he really ought to have taken the shot on goal on himself.
A thunderous opening became a blood and thunder opening when home midfielder Tomas Soucek’s face contained as much claret as his shirt after a nasty 15th minute clash of heads with Davinson Sanchez.
It resulted in him leaving the field for five minutes to get the wound above eye stitched and patched up.
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That was almost as painful as the injury Japhet Tanganga suffered on the half hour mark when Aaron Cresswell’s cross caught the Spurs defender in a part of the anatomy that brought tears to every man’s eyes.
A Cresswell corner then resulted in Craig Dawson having a point-blank header pushed over the bar by Lloris as the hosts looked to extend their advantage before the break.
Tottenham, for all of their possession in the first half, did not register their first shot on target until Erik Lamela’s effort from the edge of the box was saved by Lukasz Fabianski in the 42nd minute.
West Ham’s Polish keeper then got down well to turn a Harry Kane drive around the post before Eric Dier made a complete Horlicks of his header front the resulting corner.
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Mourinho made a double substitution at half time as he replaced Tanganga and Lamela with Matt Doherty and Bale.
But the pair did not even have time to touch the ball before Lloris was picking it out his net for a second time after being beaten by Lingard’s powerful shot.
It was eventually given the thumbs-up by VAR Darren England after a check to see whether Pablo Fornals was interfering with play.
Dier tried to claim he was distracted – but if truth be known he appeared distracted all afternoon.
Spurs to their credit, though, refused to roll over as Kane curled a free-kick just wide before Lucas Moura pulled one back with a near-post header from Bale’s 64th minute corner.
Out of nothing, it was suddenly game on with Kane flashing shot-cum-cross across the Hammers’ goalmouth.
The England captain then went agonisingly close for the visitors with a shot just wide of the target.
Spurs thought they had snatched a point when Bale’s shot from the edge of the box smacked the crossbar.
But the Hammers hung on for their third Prem win in four.
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