Tottenham moved closer to their first silverware since 2008 thanks to a goal and an assist from fringe man Steven Bergwijn. The Dutchman opened the scoring and, after Jarrod Bowen had quickly levelled, set up Lucas Moura for the goal that put Antonio Conte’s side into the last four of the Carabao Cup.
That was the last trophy Spurs lifted, albeit under another moniker, and with Conte at the helm there is a feeling anything is possible, in knockout football at least for last season’s beaten finalists, who sacked Jose Mourinho days before heading to Wembley.
West Ham, trophy-less themselves since 1980, matched the hosts in everything but the goal tally but still have European football to look forward to, something denied to Tottenham unless their lawyers can come up with something remarkable to confound Uefa, who ejected them from the Europa Conference League earlier in the week for failing to play Rennes.
That had been down to Covid of course, and the virus robbed the Hammers of forward Michail Antonio for this one.
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Conte picked five of the side that drew 2-2 with Liverpool on Sunday including Harry Kane, whose non-sending off for a lunge on Andrew Robertson saw Jurgen Klopp launch a frothing post-match witch hunt. Kane’s first contribution in this one almost brought about a goal, thanks to Moura’s turn and pass to put the England skipper into a shooting position on the left. It was well hit but Alphonse Areola dived to make a camera-friendly save.
Hugo Lloris had to punch away Bowen’s free-kick at the other end as West Ham, when they weren’t busy kicking Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, began to look menacing themselves.Matt Doherty also came in for some rough treatment but Sergio Reguilon’s dive in the hope of a free-kick failed to impress referee Chris Kavanagh.
Doherty is a player hotly tipped to be discarded by Conte next month and that also applies to the scorer of Tottenham’s breakthrough goal in the 29th minute. Bergwijn helped set it up as well by holding off Craig Dawson in the box and feeding Hojbjerg, who squared for a simple finish from the Dutchman in his first start under his new manager.
West Ham were level within three minutes through Bowen after Tomas Soucek had twice tested Lloris with headers and Craig Dawson nodded over both keeper and bar from even closer rangeEric Dier’s poor pass from his own box put Spurs in trouble with Bowen swivelling to plant a low drive beyond Lloris after Nikola Vlasic had recycled the ball into the danger zone.
What West Ham did in three minutes, Spurs then achieved in two as Bergwijn again impressed, this time with a burst into the box on the right to tee up Moura, who slotted home from six yards before Ben Johnson could intervene.
West Ham almost levelled within 60 seconds but Oliver Skipp was fractionally ahead of Soucek at the back post to clear. Skipp began the second period with a drive that was deflected wide by team-mate Bergwijn, who continued to make bursts forward of old-fashioned directness. The Hammers were matching the hosts in the possession stakes however Ben Davies had to dive in front of Bowen to stop him connecting with Arthur Masuaku’s ball to the near post.
Bowen returned and this time Lloris had to dive at his feet to paw away.Both Spurs scorers were replaced to applause on the hour-mark as Conte decided to rejig, sending on Heung-min Son and Harry Winks.
Moyes did the same eight minutes later, with Vlasic and Manuel Lanzini replaced by Said Benrahma and Pablo Fornals.Benrahma instantly blasted well over on the turn but was much closer with an 81st-minute lash across the Spurs goal.
Tottenham ratings
- Lloris 7
- Sanchez 7
- Dier 6
- Davies 7
- Doherty 6
- Skipp 7
- Hojbjerg 7
- Reguilon 6
- Moura 7
- Kane 7
- Bergwijn 8
SUBSTITUTES:
- Tanganga 4
- Alli 4
- Royal 4
- Winks 6
- Son 6
West Ham ratings
- Areola 7
- Johnson 6
- Dawson 7
- Diop 7
- Ashby 6
- Rice 6
- Soucek 7
- Masuaku 7
- Bowen 7
- Vlasic 7
- Lanzini 6
SUBSTITUTES:
- Yarmolenko 4
- Benrahma 5
- Fornals 5
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3srApVy
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