Back in the top four
This was not a match for the purists but in the end two real moments of Tottenham quality against an increasingly stretched West Ham side made the difference and now the north London side find themselves - despite an inconsistent and difficult season - back in the top four.
It was not the ideal preparation with Antonio Conte remaining in his Turin home after admitting in his post-op check-up that he was still feeling pain in his stomach. However, credit has to go to his assistant head coach Cristian Stellini and first team coach Ryan Mason for once again picking up the pieces and leading the team to an important win.
The senior players were also called upon to step up and take on more responsibility in Conte's absence and a few home truths were uttered during the week among the squad's leadership group after recent disappointing displays.
READ MORE: Tottenham player ratings vs West Ham: Emerson Royal stars, Son back with a bang as Skipp shines
It was a game Spurs had to win to capitalise on Newcastle's defeat at home to Liverpool and because of the Carabao Cup final Eddie Howe's men do not play again until their trip to Manchester City on March 4.
There is an opportunity for Tottenham to try to grasp a firmer hold on their place in the Champions League spots and put the pressure on Newcastle to have to win some difficult matches to get back in.
West Ham brought with them a challenge for Tottenham to break them down. They remained compact and attempted to break when possible, mainly through either Jarrod Bowen's runs or Michail Antonio holding the ball up before turning with it.
For much of the first half Spurs crudely bashed at the door rather than trying to find the key to unlock it. They showed the required fight for a derby but not the finesse needed to win it at that point, although they would have been aggrieved that a handball in West Ham's box from Thilo Kehrer was not deemed worthy of anything more than a cursory check from VAR. It's likely that the German was deemed to have been falling....without actually falling.
Towards the end of the first half Spurs began to realise that they needed to run beyond those with the ball and whatever was said at the break only reinforced it because Tottenham began to use the width, press higher up the pitch and thread through balls on to willing runners.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg's defence-splitting pass to Ben Davies was the kind everyone would rave about had it come from someone like Kevin De Bruyne.
That Emerson Royal then slotted the ball home from the Welshman's pass made it the kind of goal Conte no doubt dreams of at night before waking up and screaming "My beautiful wing-backs", presumably much to his wife's alarm.
The second goal was a return to classic Kane and Son. The former winning the ball so easily and threading it through to the South Korean, who took the perfect touch into his stride and slotted home a goal that was just what he needed.
In all Spurs had 16 shots on goal to West Ham's six, with six sent on target by the hosts compared to the one Bowen effort that Fraser Forster saved well just after Emerson's opener.
"I am very glad to see this type of performance because we need and we deserve to play a game like this," Stellini told football.london. "It was an important game in an important moment because with a win we can reach again fourth place.
"It is important now to be consistent with this type of performance. We have a week to work again to recover and work to perform well in the next 20 days."
He added: "We talked about that the game would arrive. Our game we want to play was the game that we played in the second half but we know very well that we have to push in the first half to create the second half.
"That was the plan. When we feel that the opponent stretch the team and create space between the lines, we have to attack the space and that is what happened and the players understood that moment. Then Sonny came in and I think the second goal was a clear Sonny situation."
It was an important derby win for Tottenham just when they needed it but now it needs to be one of many.
Emerson the cult hero
There's nothing like an underdog story and Emerson Royal's rise from the nadir of having most of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium cheering his exit from the game against Leeds in November to now keeping out a £40m January signing is something to applaud.
The Brazilian is one of the hardest workers in the squad and one of its most popular. Even when he wasn't playing, Emerson always wore a smile and was pushing others on and that's why you saw the scenes of delight for him among his team-mates when he scored in the second half on Sunday.
The goal said everything about Emerson. He might not be well versed in the ways of attack, he can look like a deer in the headlights when he receives the ball just outside the box down the right flank, but he never stops running.
In the first half he was at times the only player in the West Ham box trying to get on the end of Ben Davies' crosses and so when he saw the Welshman setting off in search of Hojbjerg's perfect pass, he knew he had to engage the afterburners as well and then his finish was calmness personified.
It's worth noting that none of the front three at that point were anywhere to be seen, but instead the wing-backs did the business in the final third.
"To play wing-back to wing-back and to score is one of our targets, one of our requests for the team," said Stellini. "Also, using the wing-backs to come inside and create the space for players like Deki and Sonny, to affect the space and play.
"Now we have to continue to be consistent in our performances because we’ve reached fourth place and, to stay, we know very well we have to perform like today."
Emerson was mobbed by his team-mates after scoring, having run over to point to his family. Richarlison tightly grasped a handful of his shirt and the goalscorer responded by grabbing his friend's throat. Then there was Cristian Romero, who ran up and booted Emerson up the backside.
Don't ask, it's how you know the Argentine loves you. He then finished off his show of affection by using his forehead to push Emerson away. It turns out that amid the adrenalin of scoring and celebrating, the Brazilian didn't even notice his South American team-mate kick him in the backside, only realising later on when a video surfaced. He posted it to his Instagram stories on Monday afternoon with the caption "Cuti, I'm going to kill you!!!" along with plenty of laughing emojis.
Emerson then finished Sunday's goal celebration off by asking a ball boy for a spare ball and he chucked it under his shirt for the classic pregnancy celebration, all because he is set to become a father for the first time with his girlfriend expecting a little boy.
After hearing those cheers for the wrong reason in November, it was fitting that now the stadium now sang: "He scores when he wants, Emerson Royal, he scores when he wants."
From that moment Emerson was brimming with confidence. He was launching into inch-perfect sliding tackles and interceptions and his customary once-per-game no-look pass was also offered up for the highlight reel.
Everything was coming off for him and it's in keeping with a few weeks' worth of impressive displays. Pedro Porro must be wondering what happened after he thought he was coming to Tottenham to be the undisputed number one right wing-back.
For Emerson he is becoming a cult hero and the 24-year-old's English is constantly improving, which has only helped him to settle in and he's started to do interviews in the language.
Everything happening to him right now is justifying his decision to stand firm in the past two transfer windows when the club were willing to let him leave with interest from clubs in Spain and Italy.
He was Spurs' man of the match once again on Sunday and defensively he recorded two tackles and five clearances as he helped the hosts to a welcome clean sheet. He was also efficient with the ball, recording a 92.7% pass success rate that was only bettered by Hojbjerg's 93.8%. Emerson also played two key passes as well as two accurate long balls from both he attempted.
"Emerson played an amazing game. It’s not the first time I’ve said it," admitted Stellini. "Don’t forget at the start of the season, Emerson was amazing. He had some problems after the red card against Arsenal. Now he's back, and we want him to perform like this, to be consistent like this, with all the team."
There's something entirely heart-warming about witnessing Emerson feeling the love from the fans after such a difficult end to the first half of the season and you wouldn't bet against him continuing to impress.
Relentless Romero and mature Skipp
Spurs' entire right-hand side had a good day against West Ham.
Cristian Romero left his kicking solely for his team-mate's backside on this occasion and his tackling was inch-perfect on the day, as he registered three successful tackles, four interceptions and six clearances in a busy performance.
It was only the second time the World Cup winner has not been booked in a match he's played in, in all competitions, since October. He's managed a remarkable eight yellow cards in his last nine games for Spurs, but this display was more like Romero at his best.
The aggressive moments were at the right times and used to launch Tottenham forward. In the warm-up before the match Romero had been struggling with a troublesome blister that needed to be treated in the dressing room but it did not hinder his pitch-long bursts once the game began.
When he plays like this, with his tackles not crossing the line, the Argentine is one of the best around and he lifts everyone around him with his desire and his ability. Such is his need to get up the pitch and seek a return pass - similar to Jan Vertonghen's old raids forward - it's only a matter of time before he runs through and scores a goal from defence that it going to garner a lot of attention.
Then there was Oliver Skipp. The 22-year-old's impressive performance in the San Siro in midweek went under the radar somewhat next to the more eye-catching, younger Pape Matar Sarr. Yet the Spurs coaching staff did not miss it.
Sarr has quickly risen in the affections of Conte and his staff, particularly after his early return from the World Cup to work intensively with them. However, their belief in Skipp has never wavered and it was only his pelvic problem in the first half of 2022 that left them waiting for him to regain his full fitness and sharpness.
There were glimpses in a cameo against Preston in the FA Cup that he was hitting his groove again and in Milan, he did a lot of the dirty work well and that was noticed by the coaching staff. So when it came to picking between the two young midfielders to partner the returning Hojbjerg, who was making his 200th Premier League appearance, for a battle against the Hammers, Conte went for the derby experience of Skipp.
It paid dividends as the England U21 midfielder began the game with some crunching tackles and an interception before picking up a yellow card for a less well-timed lunge on Michail Antonio. However, it was testament to Skipp's maturity that he managed his game perfectly from that point on and never looked like picking up a second booking.
He made four tackles, one interception and two clearances in an all-action display and he looks to always quickly get the ball forward. He's not one for the sideways pass and he made one key pass and two of his three long balls forward were also accurate.
Skipp has an ability to get alongside a dribbling opponent and scoop the ball out from their feet with a hooked tackle. He also enjoys a driving run from time to time, one of which came through the centre of the pitch and ended with a well-timed pass to Ben Davies, who fired into the side-netting.
He left the pitch in the 89th minute to a standing ovation from the Spurs fans among the 61,476-strong crowd inside the stadium. Those around Skipp believe this is just the start and he will only get better as well when he reaches full match fitness in a couple of games' time after so long without regular football.
"Skippy was amazing, also in the last game with Pape Sarr. He repeated that performance," said Stellini. "Now we can see again the Skippy we knew when we arrived here. After he has a big problem physically. Now he’s completely back.
"We’re happy for him because he’s a young player, and he needed this type of performance to continue to be consistent in this type of game, and we have many important games."
He added: "Skippy, when we arrive here, we discover this type of player. We have lost Skippy for a long time for a physical problem and we are sad for that but we had to wait for the right moment.
"He is a young player who needs confidence, needs to feel everything perfect around him. He needs to play. This type of player needs to play. We can give him all the love we can but the player needs to play and want to play to stay in confidence. When Skippy is confident, he is a young player with a great mind. It's not because you're young that you don't have experience. Skippy is an intelligent player and for that it seems he's more than his age."
Skipp and Sarr are going to get plenty of minutes in the final months of the season and both have shown Conte that they can be trusted. Both will be trying to lay down their marker to be the Robin to Hojbjerg's Batman each week and at the moment Skipp is the man with the cape.
Son not looking for excuses
Son Heung-min once again made it very clear before this match that he was only blaming himself for his woes this season.
He could have blamed the fractured cheekbone suffered in November. He could have blamed the energy expended at the World Cup with South Korea. He could have blamed Conte's system that has Ivan Perisic occupying much of Son's favoured left-hand side.
Conte wants his wing-backs to also cut inside at times, leaving space for the number 10s to drift out wide when they want. Perisic has done that less so, leaving Son to instead occupy a narrower area between the Croatian and Harry Kane.
Yet Son isn't looking for excuses. He's more concerned with what he has been doing than others around him.
"I am not blaming that [cheekbone injury]. I am just really frustrated," he said in an interview on the eve of the game against West Ham. "If I wasn't then I would be crazy. I am really honest about this. I have a chance to help the team but can't seem to do it like last season.
"It is difficult. I am always watching my games back and trying to improve and see what I can do better. I have had some unbelievable previous years that I won't forget but sometimes bad times make you stronger and I am just trying to speak positively now.
"I know the fans want more from me. So do I. I agree with them 100 per cent when they criticise and I feel sorry to the team and the fans and the club. The expectation has been high because I have done well for so many years. I have to do that again."
Son has a lot of affection for the recovering Conte, a man under whom the South Korean played the best football of his career last season.
"The manager has been having a tough time in his private life and we need to give him something back," he said. "I feel really sorry because he has given everything to me and I want to give him back everything he can possibly receive.
"I always want to give him my best. We have a good squad and we need to stick together in this tough time and show unity. That's the most important thing."
So prolific was Son in his last campaign that the fact that his goal against West Ham was only the third Premier League game he has scored in this season is difficult to process.
The match was set up perfectly for the South Korean, who was coming off the bench for only the second time this season. It was like Richarlison had been used as the battering ram for the first half to enable Son to rip apart a stretched and tired West Ham defence in the second.
It worked a treat as Son was near unplayable when he came on with run after run and his goal was vintage Son, taking a perfect touch from Kane's ball through with the outside of his right foot before using the instep of that same boot to slot the ball past Lukasz Fabianski.
Son's ability to run at tired defenders makes him the perfect impact sub but he's better than that small role.
Those who subscribe to the Perisic taking Son's space argument will point out that the more defensive Davies was on the pitch when the South Korean scored. However, Son has also proved that he can play centrally with Kane to great effect, especially during the Jose Mourinho era, so it's not like he needs to occupy wide positions in order to thrive.
If anything he's at his best when he sees Kane pick up the ball in a deeper role and he can sprint past the England captain through the middle, knowing the pass will come.
It's all about confidence and the timing of his runs and once again all eyes will be on whether he harnesses the momentum of another strong showing from the bench.
This latest goal took him past Teddy Sheringham to become Spurs' second-highest Premier League goalscorer on 98 goals with Kane top with 200. Son's 100th Premier League goal is on the horizon and Conte and Stellini will be hoping it arrives sooner rather than later.
"We knew that Sonny's response would be perfect because Sonny is a perfect guy," said Stellini after the match, "but after the World Cup, sometimes it happen that the player are not fit 100 per cent.
"In that moment you have to take a decision and it is difficult with a player like Sonny to drop them, but you have to do it because we have a lot of matches. The risk is you lose a player for a long time and we don't want to do it. We want to use Sonny in the right way.
"Now we had Richarlison back 100 per cent fit and we pick the team to play this type of game. The plan was clear. We had to fight in the first half and when they stretch the team and we have more space, we can use players like Sonny and players to attack the space."
He added: "No, the confidence is 100 per cent [for Son], it is physically that he need to recover. When he play five games in a row, sometimes you can feel tired and you can feel something not perfect.
"It is important for us that the player is mature enough to say this. It is important because you can't manage the performance of 11 players. If you have 11 at 100 per cent, it is better to have seven and three that are not performing well but you need that they are mature and they speak with us. Sonny in this case was perfect during the week but now we have time to manage him to play the next step with six games in 14 days."
That Son was subjected to racist abuse online during the encounter remains a damning indictment of a world where people can use social media and football as a vehicle to deliver their own hate-filled, twisted thoughts without much in the way of consequences.
Alongside Son, Kane is yet to score since reaching his milestone 267th for Spurs. That was celebrated pre-match with a tifo in the stands bearing his first name - which later provided the utensils for various paper airplanes - the fans chanting that he's one of their own and he was awarded a silver boot with every one of his goals for the club marked underneath.
That was presented by not only Ledley King but fittingly the late, great Jimmy Greaves' wife Irene and his daughter Mitzi Robinson. The former Tottenham striker would have been 83 on Monday and years ago he fully endorsed Kane as being the man to one day break his long-standing record.
Kane looked more like his old self on Sunday after a couple of subdued displays. His battling never gave the Hammers' defence a moment's rest and that was summed up perfectly as Angelo Ogbonna got himself in all kinds of trouble in his attempts to wrestle with Kane before heading a ball straight to him in the build-up to Son's goal.
All that is missing are those expected goals and Kane sent one big chance wide when running through on goal down the right.
On the right, Dejan Kulusevski struggled for confidence in the first half, neither attacking the ball nor using it in the way he normally would. However, whatever Stellini and Mason said at half-time appeared to do the trick.
The 22-year-old Swede came out for the second half pumped up and within the opening minutes had dispossessed two West Ham players with his pressing. He also tested Fabianksi with a trademark curling shot and teed up Emerson for a shot as well as getting the ball to Kane for his big chance.
Richarlison looks like a player who needs minutes to rediscover his sharpness but he also improved as the game wore on and there was a first appearance for Lucas Moura in the Premier League since November.
January signing Arnaut Danjuma did not even get on the pitch and that shows the depth of the options Spurs now have in those attacking spots.
All six of those forwards are going to be needed in the months ahead and they need increase their output as a unit if Tottenham are to remain in the top four.
Stellini's record, Conte's return and Udogie's visit
There was a little smile on Cristian Stellini's lips when football.london pointed out to him that he had just extended his record in charge to six wins in six matches. The 48-year-old has stood in for Antonio Conte in three matches at Inter and three matches so far at Tottenham and he's won every single one.
Stellini will be well aware of his record and proud of it and he also admitted to football.london ahead of the game that the growing affection from the Spurs fanbase towards him was a strange thing to comprehend as an assistant head coach.
But when he was jokingly asked in his post-match press conference whether he would be mentioning his managerial success to Conte or even Daniel Levy, he was not having any of it.
"No, this happens because Antonio is the gaffer, not because I am the gaffer. I only follow the project of his work and the way he works is really clear," he said. "I follow this and I use my experience and I use lot of the staff because we work in a team and we work very well. I am very happy to work with all of them, especially Ryan [Mason] because he helped me a lot."
That Spurs have only won matches with Stellini in charge has of course led to some of the club's fans wondering out loud whether the former Juventus and Genoa defender should remain at helm.
Stellini speaks very well, he cuts straight to the point and you can see how he must impart information directly and simply to the players, a skill that he also said Mason has - cutting through the fog to get his point across.
However, the truth about his impact on matches is exactly what Stellini said after the game. He's not changing up much at all, if anything he's using Conte's blueprint almost to the letter, even asking the head coach for permission to make substitutions and in-game tweaks.
Even his and Mason's half-time words were supplemented with notes and suggestions sent from the head coach back home in Turin.
The main credit Stellini and Mason should get is for their work in preparing the players for each game and using Conte's absence to galvanise the group and delegate more responsibility to the senior players, while looking to emulate Conte's passion and leadership from the touchline during matches.
They have made the transition as seamless as possible. Conte was heavily involved from afar with the coaching staff on Sunday. He had last spoken to the players on Saturday night, but during the game he was constantly involved in dialogue back and forth from Italy.
"Today was a clear balance because Antonio is completely involved," said Stellini. "Yesterday, the day before, he wants to listen and hear our feeling and our sensation. He gave us some advice during the match and we ask to him sometimes, 'we want to do this, we want to change this player,' and he agree with us.
"He said sometimes wait and that's it. We are in balance to decide and to listen what Antonio likes but he wants every time from me and Ryan [Mason] that we say to him how we feel with the players, how we feel with the performance because the stadium is different to watching the game on the TV."
The assistant head coach told Sky: "Conte sent some texts to the bench and they transferred it to me. He is good, he is fine and can be involved in the game so that is fine. Sometimes I want to do things and I ask him and he allows me and Ryan sometimes he tells us to wait and sometimes he asks what we feel about players and their stamina."
Spurs have not yet put a timeframe on Conte's return but Stellini made it clear that he did not expect the 53-year-old to return to face his old team Chelsea next Sunday in a game that will bring more stress than most.
"No, I am not expecting Antonio to be back for Chelsea but I expect he will be back the week after Chelsea. For Milan or Wolverhampton," said the assistant coach. "We have also the game in the FA Cup so maybe not Chelsea but we don't know, because if Antonio feels well and he can live some stress without some pain or feel something strange, Antonio will be back."
It's worth remembering that Conte was so wound up during the 2-2 draw between the two sides earlier in the season at Stamford Bridge that he was constantly clashing with the Chelsea bench and then had that controversial coming together Thomas Tuchel at the end.
This is not a gentle derby and it is not one for those recovering from emergency surgery. Conte trusts Stellini and Mason and those around the head coach will be advising him to continue this temporary arrangement for at least another week.
There was also a new face at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Destiny Udogie was a visitor to the ground where he will be hoping to raid up and down the left wing next season.
The 20-year-old wing-back signed for Spurs last summer only to be loaned back to Udinese where he has continued to develop and impress, with three goals and two assists to his name from 19 Serie A games this season so far.
The Italy U21 international got to meet his team-mates ahead of the game having been unable to really do so in his whirlwind visit to Hotspur Way last August. He then watched the match from the stands, among the fans, as he took in the huge stadium that will become his home.
Udogie's visit was kept low key, so as not to upset anyone at Udinese in the aftermath of their Friday defeat at Inter Milan, but it would have given him a sense of what is to come. There is plenty of excitement within Spurs about Udogie's arrival this summer and the impact he will have on the pitch.
But for now it is all about the present. It has been the most fragmented Tottenham season in recent history, marked with difficult moments throughout including tragedy, inconsistency, injuries and that 30-month ban for managing director of football Fabio Paratici, who continues to keep a low profile in the directors' box rather than take his usual position behind the dugout.
Yet despite all of that, it is almost March and Spurs find themselves in the top four, 1-0 down at half-time in their last 16 clash in the Champions League and with a fifth round FA Cup tie at Championship side Sheffield United to come.
There is so much yet to play for and the story of Tottenham's season is far from complete.
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