Antonio Conte will see this victory as progress: weary but persistent opponents held at arm’s length, the rare sensation of successive wins and enough vigour in attack to suggest that Tottenham have no intention of letting Arsenal out of their sights.
The chase for the coveted fourth spot is on and Spurs, who could have put more than three goals past a tired West Ham, are building momentum at the right time. They are only three points below Arsenal, albeit having played a game more, and most importantly there is a sense of the pieces starting to fall into place under Conte, who could reflect not only on the devastating combinations between Harry Kane and Son Heung-min but also how his side’s game management ensured that a West Ham equaliser rarely seemed likely in the second half.
By the end the sense was this is what Conte wants: energy, dynamism and variety with the ball; ruggedness, discipline and desire without it.
Cristian Romero was a towering influence at the back and Rodrigo Bentancur impressive alongside Pierre-Emile Højbjerg in midfield. “Now I see we are a really good team,” Conte said. “It was very difficult to play against us.” So difficult, in fact, that Conte even talked about wanting a chance to have another go at Chelsea after losing three times to them in January.
Spurs are a much sharper proposition now and it certainly helps that Kane is over his autumn slump, the striker’s craft far too much for West Ham to handle.
“He is two players in one – a No 10 and a No 9,” Conte said, marvelling at how Kane shook off the disappointment of failing to score by making all three Spurs goals. “A world-class player,” David Moyes said as he reflected on West Ham’s inability to contain the England captain’s ability to drop deep and play sweeping through-balls to Son. “We didn’t quite get it right.” West Ham could have few complaints about Spurs going above them.
Moyes’s decision to match Conte’s 3-4-3 backfired and his side looked short of ideas in the second half, their attacking threat limited by Jarrod Bowen’s absence and their lack of depth exposed when an exhausted Michail Antonio had to go off before the hour.
“We needed Michail at a really high level,” Moyes said. “The Tottenham front players were at such a high level. Spurs suck you in, then get it through to Kane and Son. We had the ball for the opening 15 minutes. But they were two goals up.”
No doubt it helped that West Ham were feeling the effects of going to extra time during their Europa League victory over Sevilla. Spurs were hunting for lethargy and their plan worked after only nine minutes, the opener arriving when Matt Doherty hounded Arthur Masuaku off the ball when the West Ham wing-back dithered on the left.
It was poor from Masuaku, starting for the first time since Boxing Day, but fine work from Doherty. The right wing-back found Kane and the striker looked for Son, whose presence was enough to force Kurt Zouma to divert the ball past Lukasz Fabianski.
It should have been 2-0 two minutes later. This time Dejan Kulusevski caused problems, dribbling through on the right and teeing up Son, who shot wide of the empty net.
Son soon redeemed himself. His goal was a classic: Kane dropping deep, escaping Declan Rice and spraying a gorgeous diagonal pass to the South Korean, who unleashed a vicious shot that flew past Fabianski thanks to a slight touch off an increasingly hapless Zouma.
However, Spurs were not entirely secure. They were fortunate not to be pegged back after 10 minutes, Antonio shooting wide after slack play from Kane and Eric Dier, and West Ham had hope before the interval. Aaron Cresswell swung in a corner, Craig Dawson headed it on and Saïd Benrahma volleyed past Hugo Lloris.
There was no decrease in the entertainment after half-time. Spurs were menacing on the break and almost regained their two-goal lead after 51 minutes, Son the provider this time, Kane just unable to squeeze his shot past Fabianski.
With the dramatic tension rising, there was speedy action from the stewards to stop pitch invaders from chaining themselves to the goals at both ends.
Moments later West Ham should have equalised, Antonio volleying Cresswell’s cross over. It was Antonio’s final contribution, Moyes sending on Andriy Yarmolenko and replacing Masuaku with Pablo Fornals as West Ham tried to give themselves more options in attack.
Yet Spurs eventually made the points safe. Lloris punted the ball forward, Kane beat Dawson and Zouma in the air and Son ran through to beat Fabianski again. “There is only one target in our mind,” Conte said. Arsenal can consider themselves warned.
