West Ham United remain in the Premier League’s relegation zone after a 2-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Second half goals from Emerson Royal and Son Heung-min at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium were enough to seal three points for Spurs, with West Ham missing out on a chance to move out of the Premier League’s bottom three.
After a first defeat in five matches in all competitions, here are the major talking points from the London derby defeat.
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Undoing their recent good work
West Ham could have felt optimistic about leaving north London with at least a point ahead of kick-off, having gone four games unbeaten, off the back of 1-1 draws with Newcastle United and Chelsea, and Tottenham losing their two previous games away at Leicester City and AC Milan.
In the first half, there were more plus points than negatives really for David Moyes’ side. Jarrod Bowen flashed a chance wide inside 60 minutes and although Spurs largely had the chances, they were all shackled with relative comfort.
The side that looked defensively solid, challenged, but equipped of dealing with it, looked anything but when the second half started.
Spurs winger Dejan Kulusevski, who looked quiet before half-time, had pressed and dispossessed both Nayef Aguerd and Declan Rice in a matter of minutes, the first forcing Aguerd into a shot for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and the latter, seeing Harry Kane steer a close range shot significantly wide of his normally marksman/like precision.
It was clearly a sign of what was to come, Tottenham had space in midfield that was not there before the break, and those gaps were exploited in both goals.
The first was a sweeping move, a wing-back to wing-back goal similar of Emerson Palmieri’s equaliser for West Ham against Chelsea nine days ago. This time, it was Emerson Royal, converting from a striker’s position after Ben Davies cross, with the Welshman latching onto a carving through ball from Hojbjerg.
Keen to get back into the game, Moyes bought on striker Danny Ings and winger Said Benrahma for more reinforcements. However, a minute after their double arrival, Spurs doubled their lead. Angelo Ogbonna was guilty of not clearing a header away from Kane with enough conviction, allowing the England captain to play Son through on goal, who finished in the way you would expect from last season’s joint-golden boot winner.
West Ham had a late flurry, Bowen forced a save out of Fraser Forster seconds after Son’s goal, while Benrahma turned shots wide twice in quick succession. Very much too little, too late.
The Hammers’ tally of just one away league win remains, which came at Aston Villa at the end of August and the good work from recent weeks to steer clear of the bottom three has quickly been undone.
A woeful weekend
West Ham could not really be blamed for losing at Tottenham before kick-off, but given how results over the weekend went, it proved to be a very bad weekend for a derby day loss.
During Saturday’s Premier League matches, Everton, Bournemouth and Chelsea, who all started the weekend in the bottom three, won their league matches against Leeds United, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chelsea respectively.
With all of the bottom three winning ahead of West Ham’s trip to Spurs, not only did Moyes’ men drop two places in the table, but those behind them suddenly felt much nearer.
A draw at Tottenham would have been a good result, but even that would have felt like a step back in some ways with many of West Ham’s relegation-threatened rivals also winning at the weekend.
The Hammers cannot move out of the relegation zone until Saturday at the earliest when they take on fellow strugglers Nottingham Forest in what feels like must-win, not just for their own sake, but to put pressure on those sides around them.
With 15 games to go, West Ham are well and truly in the fight for survival, but for their own sake, need to prioritise getting back to winning ways in the league as a matter of real urgency.
From solid to sloppy
For over half of the game, while West Ham offered not much going forward, at the back, they matched what was needed of them in defence.
While Spurs had much of the possession and attacking territory, the back line of Thilo Kehrer, Ogbonna and Aguerd had met what was put before them.
From solid defending to sloppy moments, all three made errors in the second half that undid their good work from the first 45 minutes.
While Aguerd’s moment of deliberation on the ball was fortunate to go unpunished, Kehrer found himself and Vladimir Coufal beaten way too easily for West Ham’s first goal, with Ogbonna making a hash of his duties for Son to make it two.
On multiple occasions in his post-match press conference, Moyes referenced that because goals have been hard to find this term, the back line needs to be limiting what is conceded to keep them in games. For over half of the derby, that was possible, but Spurs’ ability to pressurise and carve through West Ham’s back line eventually took its toll, giving West Ham their 13th defeat of the league season in the process.
Lacking attacking guile
West Ham’s chances in front of goal would make a list of just four properly executed chances, only one of which forced Spurs goalkeeper Forster into action.
Inside the opening minute, a well-hit half volley from Bowen outside of the penalty area went just wide and showed signs of early encouragement. It would take over 70 minutes for West Ham to go close again, via Bowen once more, but seconds after Son had made it 2-0.
This time, Bowen raced past Cristian Romero on the counter attack and got a shot on goal, but Forster met it.
The other two chances of note fell for substitute Benrahma, a free-kick going wide and a shot off brilliant work from Bowen failing to even work Forster.
If West Ham are going to focus on holding teams at the back, when they do get forward, they have to be clinical. It has been a problem on multiple occasions this term, but further highlighted against Spurs.
The Emerson battle
The game saw opposing wing-backs Emerson Royal and Emerson Palmieri go toe-to-toe.
Having scored a crucial equaliser against former side Chelsea last time out, Palmieri went into the game in form, but found himself undone by his opposite number.
In similar fashion to the draw with Chelsea, Spurs’ opener was a wing-back goal, Royal converting in a striker’s position, something which West Ham’s defence and Palmieri will be asking questions of how they let the Brazilian get that far forward
Palmieri, whose attacking runs and contributions have been key in recent weeks, were further highlighted by his lack of creativity in the game, with Royal among the better of Spurs’ players.
West Ham’s Italian wing-back has only recently established himself in the side, but with vice-captain Aaron Cresswell waiting in the wings, Palmieri will have to be quick to return to form amid the risk of losing his place in Moyes’ 11.
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