West Ham vs Spurs: Player ratings as Soucek spares Kehrer’s blushes and VAR denies Kane a shot at redemption
West Ham 1-1 Spurs(Soucek 55′ | Kehrer O.G 34′)
THE LONDON STADIUM — Tottenham continued their habit of collecting points that were missed last season by taking one against a resurgent West Ham. There was a contentious VAR call, an own goal, a debutant from a club-record signing and plenty in between on a frantic night in east London.
Nobody wants to have the dreaded VAR chat anymore, but this is the fourth season that the technology has been in use in the Premier League and issues still persist. On this occasion it was a question of timing: three minutes and 56 seconds passed from Peter Bankes awarding Tottenham a penalty to taking it away again.
Harry Kane thought he’d earned an immediate shot at redemption after missing his first Premier League spot-kick in four years at the City Ground when his header hit Aaron Creswell’s outstretched forearm. That moment will have to wait, Creswell spared courtesy of getting his face in the way first. “A lucky escape,” admitted Joe Cole in the BT gantry.
When Peter Bankes trundled over to the pitchside TV of doom, everybody in the stadium knew what was coming. Ivan Perisic’s arms were outstretched in anguish, awaiting the inevitable result. Antonio Conte gesticulated with the animated energy of someone who has just spotted a traffic warden lurking with intent besides their car. West Ham fans around the ground partied like it was 1966.
Spurs went in front regardless and had their trusted ally “own goal” to thank. Thilo Kehrer might have envisaged a more productive start to his West Ham career, following up a penalty concession on his London Stadium debut against Brighton with an own goal on his second outing in front of his new fans. But the goal wasn’t about him; it was about Dejan Kulusevski.
When Spurs splurged a club-record £60m fee on Richarlison, there were some who predicted that he would waltz straight into Conte’s front three alongside the big two. Clearly, those people hadn’t been paying attention to Kulusevski last season.
Player ratings
West Ham (4-3-3)
Lukasz Fabianski – 7
Vladimir Coufal – 7
Thilo Kehrer – 6
Kurt Zouma – 6
Aaron Cresswell – 6 (Ogbonna 6)
Declan Rice – 7
Tomas Soucek – 7
Pablo Fornals – 7 (Emerson N/A)
Jarrod Bowen – 6
Said Benrahma – 6 (Paqueta 6)
Michail Antonio – 7
Tottenham (3-4-3)
Hugo Lloris – 5
Davinson Sanchez – 6
Eric Dier – 6
Ben Davies – 6
Emerson Royal – 7
Yves Bissouma – 6
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg – 6
Ivan Perisic – 7
Dejan Kulusevski – 7 (Richarlison 6)
Son Heung-min – 6
Harry Kane – 7
The Swede has been one of Tottenham’s most impactful signings of the last decade and his twinkle toes were imprinted all over the opener. Receiving the ball on the right wing he sucked three West Ham players into his sphere before disguising a cute touch into Kane’s path to cross for Kehrer to tap in before Son Heung-min could reach it.
But West Ham rallied and grabbed an equaliser that was met with a roar that nearly lifted the roof off.
Classy assist from Antonio,
Elegant finish from Soucek!
Before the game, Spurs had paid tribute to their long-serving captain Hugo Lloris for his decade of service to the club, the Frenchman having signed from Lyon on 31 August 2012. Given the build-up, his role in West Ham’s equaliser was sadly inevitable. The Frenchman shanked an attempted pass straight out of play and from the resulting throw-in Tomas Soucek slammed home a close-range volley, via a superb flick from Michail Antonio. Happy 10 years, Hugo.
How BT Sport’s pundits reacted to the penalty decision
Peter Crouch: “Well Cresswell takes a huge risk first and foremost jumping like that with his hands in the air.
“If this header goes straight onto Cresswell’s hand then it’s a definite penalty but the fact they’ve got away with it is because it’s hit his face and then gone onto his arm.
“If you jump like that and it hands the hand directly it’s a definite handball.”
Kane’s header hit Cresswell’s arm but connected with his head first (Photo: AP)
Joe Cole: “The ref took his time and that’s what VAR is there for. West Ham got away with one there for sure.
“There has to be a line where it’s black and white and the rules are that if it hits a body part before his hand then it’s down to the referee’s discretion.”
From that point onwards, the game descended into peak Premier League ping pong. The final stages were dominated by spurned West Ham chances and Tottenham’s flickering counter-attacking threat. Pablo Fornals missed when he should have scored, Davinson Sanchez – of all people – attempted an overhead kick. New boys Emerson Palmieri and Lucas Paqueta left a prime shooting opportunity to each other which neither took. And then in the final seconds, Jarrod Bowen squirted a cross-shot across the goal-line that somehow avoided a teammate’s toe.
And then it was done. A game halted for what seemed an eternity ending in a flash. West Ham will feel that it was a missed opportunity but are at least seemingly back on track. For Spurs, it was a result that consolidated their position in third place.
Conte: I think in England it is better to cut off VAR
Conte insisted that the decision to reverse the penalty award in the first half was incorrect and called for VAR to be scrapped from the Premier League.
“I don’t like to comment on refereeing decisions. I never did this in England,” Conte said. “But today I want to comment on the referee’s decision because it was right!
“I said to him at the end of the first half but with a smile, I said ‘you have taken the right decision and then the VAR called you’. The VAR for sure, embarrassed the referee because to make him change a right decision I think was really really strange.
“For managers and players, I think to accept the mistake of the referee during the game is ok because the referee decision can sometimes be positive and sometimes be negative but at the end of the season there is always a balance.”
He added: “I think in England it is better to cut off VAR for the crowd but also for us. For me, my players and coaches of all the clubs, you accept the referee’s decision positive or negative because they are a human mistake.”
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