West Ham continued their upturn in form as they earned a well-deserved point against Tottenham after a 1-1 draw at the London Stadium.
Antonio Conte’s side remain unbeaten and they took the lead through an own goal from Thilo Kehrer, but as has been the case for much of this season they were unable to get any sort of control in the match.
Sloppiness from Spurs allowed West Ham to equalise after the break, as Tomas Soucek was found by Michail Antonio and hammered home to equalise. Both sides had chances to snatch all three points but it finished level, David Moyes’ team probably the more frustrated not to have won it but they they backed up their victory over Aston Villa with another positive result.
West Ham named club-record signing Lucas Paqueta on the bench, though Gianluca Scamacca missed out due to illness, while Yves Bissouma started in midfield for Spurs.
Tottenham thought they had a penalty with just over ten minutes played, as Kane’s header was blocked by Aaron Cresswell and the referee immediately pointed to the spot for a handball. But, after a VAR review that took an absolute age, the referee went over to the monitor and overturned his decision.
Michail Antonio very nearly put the hosts in front, as his curling effort from distance clattered back off the woodwork, before Spurs took the lead with a ruthless moment on the counter.
Decaln Rice’s attempted one-two with Said Benrahma didn’t come off and the visitors quickly clicked into gear. Dejan Kulusevski drove into the West Ham box, played it to Kane on the overlap and his ball across the face of goal was turned into his own net by Kehrer, as Heung-min Son waited for a tap-in behind.
West Ham started the second-half well and got themselves back on terms with a well-worked goal, as Tottenham were caught sleeping from a quick throw-in. Michail Antonio held the ball up, flicked it brilliantly into the path of Soucek and the midfielder did the rest with an emphatic finish.
A debut off the bench for Paqueta was celebrated like a goal by the home supporters, and that was almost put to the test when the ball fell to Pablo Fornals in the box with 15 minutes remaining. He was completely free but blazed over the bar, wasting a huge chance to put the Hammers in front.
Paqueta had the opportunity to be an immediate hero as the ball was cut back to him in the closing stages, but he and Emerson Palmieri, both wonderfully placed, left it for each other and the hosts had to watch their hopes of snatching all three points roll out of the box and into the distance.
