On an afternoon when Tottenham were out to make amends for their capitulation to Brighton, this time they were the beneficiaries of a quickfire second-half turnaround — and an eventual thrashing.
A 4-1 win over 10-man West Ham was the perfect response to the inexplicable loss at Brighton, when they had thrown away a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2.
Ange Postecoglou told Australian TV last week that his players left for the international break almost immediately after the Brighton game, so there was no chance for a full debrief.
No need, it seems. Spurs were measured and mediocre in the first half and then ruthless and rampant in the second, putting to the sword a West Ham side who beat them here last season and who could have climbed above them with a win.
But the Hammers were hopelessly off the pace and all at sea defensively when they returned from the dressing room for the second half. They conceded three times in seven minutes, and it would have been four in nine minutes if Heung-min Son had not struck the post when the goal was gaping just a minute after he’d scored.
Tottenham’s tally of 18 goals from eight league games shows good work has been done. Though neither of them scored this time, the signing of Dominic Solanke and rapid improvement of Brennan Johnson are making Spurs a more potent attacking side than they were last season.
The busiest period of the season is soon upon us, and Postecoglou will have been delighted the return after injury of Son and, off the bench, Richarlison. Only Dejan Kulusevski, scorer of Spurs’s first goal, put in a better display than Son, who netted the fourth.
There was then a loud ovation when Richarlison came on after 81 minutes for his first appearance since August. His return gives Postecoglou another attacking option, with the games now coming thick and fast, particularly given Tottenham’s participation in the Europa League.
A West Ham fightback late on never looked remotely likely, and the chance of it fell to precisely zero when, after a VAR check, Mohammed Kudus was sent off for shoving his hand into Micky van de Ven’s face during a mass confrontation between the teams. Kudus had been the Hammers’ liveliest player to that point, though perhaps that wasn’t so hard.
For a time at least, Spurs move to fifth in the Premier League. The Brighton defeat now looks merely a blip in the middle of a strong run of momentum. If Spurs made a brilliant start but fell away last season, there is a feeling they are growing into Postecoglou’s second campaign.
