The London derby between West Ham and Tottenham was supposed to be a reparation of the last performances for both teams. Tomáš Souček and Vladimír Coufal ran onto the pitch in the home team’s starting line-up for a traditional bubblegum party. The Hammers led 3-1 at Newcastle in the last game, but eventually fell 3-4. Spurs again narrowly beat Luton and also had a 0:3 loss against Fulham. Late on Tuesday evening, however, the duel did not find a winner and ended 1:1. Both Czechs played the entire match and Coufal was involved in the only conceded goal.
The notes of the Hammers’ anthem I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles were just beginning to fade when, in the fifth minute, Timo Werner, on the left side, caught Coufala on a few steps and presented the ball to Brennan Johnson. The Welsh striker just thanked him, set his foot and pretended to be happy. He overcame Lukasz Fabiański from close range without any problems.
From the beginning of the match, it was noticeable that the carded Edson Álvarez was missing, who could have acted as a barrier to Maddison or Werner. The German speedster is looking around slowly in Tottenham. He scored another coveted assist against the Hammers, and the home side feared a repeat of the recent memory.
“One would say, what is going on? We scored again after five minutes. It was similar to Newcastle,” said West Ham coach David Moyes after the match.
As already mentioned, Polish veteran Fabiański appeared in the Hammers’ goal in place of the injured Aréola. With 359 Premier League starts for Arsenal, Swansea and West Ham, he is by a mile the most played Pole in the English league.
However, even he did not help West Ham’s last clean sheet in the Premier League on January 2nd in a goalless draw with Brighton.
Tottenham captain Son Heung-min achieved an even brighter milestone than Fabiański. The Korean superstar played his 400th competitive game in a Spurs shirt. However, Son was not particularly visible.
The Korean could only hang his head when, in the 19th minute, Captain Kurt Zouma leveled Bowen’s corner kick curiously with his back. It was the third hit of the competition for the French tower.
In the first half, Tottenham clearly dominated the game, but when the home team went on the counter-attack, it was clear that Bowen’s form and the physical strengths of Michail Antonio were causing problems for the visitors’ defense. And key stopper Micky van de Ven returned to the defensive line after an injury for the first time since March 10.
And the crucial duel between Antonio and Van de Ven was yet to happen.
It was also a battle between two great assistants between full backs. Coufal and his counterpart Pedro Porro have already scored 7 assists in this year’s Premier League. In this regard, only Kieran Trippier of Newcastle is better among full-backs with 10 passes for goal. On Tuesday evening, however, both Coufal and Porro remained silent on the front.
After the change of sides, it seemed that West Ham would change the course of the game, they were pinned in front of their own goal for the first five minutes, but it really only lasted for the opening tens of seconds, then the siege of the visitors continued. But it is a fact that the Hammers bet on breaks and one almost came after an hour of play.
Referee Brooks very controversially allowed Paqueta’s tackle on James Maddison, the subsequent long ball was found just behind the halfway line by Antonio, who had a speed and power duel with Van de Ven. The Dutch stopper fell, Antonio narrowly avoided offside, so the Jamaican got the best chance of the second half, but he failed in the face of Vicario. The Italian defending Tottenham’s three posts was hailed as a hero, and it turned out to be absolutely right, as the match did not bring a bigger opportunity.
Tomáš Souček was not seen much during the entire match, Coufal had more work to do, as Spurs went more for the win. In the 73rd minute, Coufal stopped a great low cross from substitute Sarro. It was an important moment. Werner was already going to shoot behind the Czech defender.
David Moyes’s men often retreated to their own goal with nine men. If the Hammers called for more courage after the loss to Newcastle, there was not much of it. You could tell practically the whole match who was going to win more.
“We controlled most of the match. West Ham were very overcast and made it difficult for us. In addition, Antonio et al. they threatened to counterattack. We often lacked thought in the dense penalty area. Players are only people, I would like to have a joystick and put them where I want, but it doesn’t work like that,” said the visitors’ coach Ange Postecoglou after the match.
The ending was crazy though. In the set-up, Destiny Udogie had another great chance after Lo Celso’s tap-in, but it was only aimed at the center of Fabiański’s goal. Right after that came a counterattack, in which Souček was also dunked, but the finish in the direction of Vicario did not happen. That’s why both teams tied 1:1. “I think it was a fair result in the end. We showed better resilience in defense than at the weekend,” added West Ham’s Scottish coach.
Tottenham remain fifth and missed the chance to draw level on points with fourth-placed Aston Villa. West Ham will go into the next fights from the 7th place.
Results of the 31st round of the English football league
Nottingham – Fulham 3:1
Goals: 9. Hudson-Odoi, 19. Wood, 45.+3 Gibbs-White – 50. Adarabioyo
Newcastle – Everton 1:1
Goals: 15. Isak – 88. Calvert-Lewin z pen.
Burnley – Wolverhampton 1:1
Goals: 37. Bruun Larsen – 45.+3 Ait-Nouri
Bournemouth – Crystal Palace 1:0
Branka: 79. Kluivert
West Ham – Tottenham 1:1
Goals: 19. Zouma – 5. Johnson
