Tottenham kept themselves firmly in the race for a top-four spot and in doing so perhaps ended West Ham’s hopes as they beat their London rivals 3-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Spurs cruised into a comfortable early lead, as Kurt Zouma scored an own goal and Heung-min Son then doubled the advantage after a brilliant pass from Harry Kane.
Said Benrahma got West Ham back in it before the break, but the visitors were unable to pull off another famous comeback on Tottenham soil as Son sealed the win with his second late on.
The result pushes Antonio Conte’s side up to fifth, three points behind Arsenal who have a game in hand, while West Ham’s hopes of Champions League football look to now rest on their Europa League progress.
The sides went into the match level on points, though West Ham had played a game more, knowing that three points was almost a must if they were to keep tabs on Arsenal in fourth.
West Ham had reason to be leggy after their efforts against Sevilla on Thursday night, and so it proved as they made a slow start to the match and fell behind after less than ten minutes.
Kane powered into the box and looked to cut the ball back to Son, who couldn’t turn the cross home under pressure but Zouma did the job for him as the defender slid in behind him.
It got even worse for the Hammers soon after, after yet more brilliant work from Kane. The striker picked up the ball on the halfway line, turned and played a sensational pass into the path of Son. He worked it onto his left foot in the box and the shot flicked off Zouma and looped over Lukasz Fabianski into the back of the net.
At that point it looked like Spurs might run away with it, but set-pieces proved a problem for them once again. Craig Dawson’s header from a corner found Benrahma at the back post, and he quickly adjusted his feet to volley past Hugo Lloris.
Kane was similarly impressive after the break, first producing a great cross that Matt Doherty couldn’t divert towards goal before he was denied himself by a good save from Fabianski as he tried to dink the goalkeeper.
Michail Antonio sent a good chance over the bar with his final touch before being replaced, as David Moyes turned to Andriy Yarmolenko in the hope he would provide yet another winner off the bench.
Spurs had chances to finish the match off on the break, with Dejan Kulusevski having a couple of shots from outside the box and Sergio Reguilon firing a tame effort straight at Fabianski.
Kane should have put the result beyond doubt when he was played in with ten minutes remaining, but he could only send his shot looping over the bar.
He was involved as Tottenham finally did put the match to be though, getting his third assist. There was nothing clever about the goal - Lloris launched a long ball forward, Kane flicked it on and Son was clean through to score his second of the match and seal a pivotal three points.
