Home   >   MOTDs   >   MOTD: Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 West Ham United

MOTD: Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 West Ham United

By on November 22, 2015

Harry Kane bagged a brace in Tottenham Hotspur’s dominant 4-1 win over West Ham United, making it eight goals in his past five matches in all competitions. So much for a goal drought. After scoring just once in Tottenham’s first five league games of the season, the Englishman has found the target in each of his last four Premier League matches and has surpassed his tally in all competitions at this point last season. When Kane thrashed the opener into the back of the net, West Ham gaffer Slaven Bilic stood stony faced, moving not a muscle. Bilic was at a loss again as Toby Alderweireld nodded home a second, Kane bagged another and Kyle Walker grabbed a fourth goal for Tottenham.

“The performance matches the result. They were better than us,” Bilic told the BBC. “They were more a team. They were physically quicker and stronger and better in transitions.”

On the other side of the touchline, Mauricio Pochettino was urging his side onward, to press higher and higher. Tottenham’s young squad — the youngest in the Premier League, in fact — exuded confidence and class in their comprehensive thumping of the visitors at White Hart Lane. It was the third game in Tottenham’s last four matches in which they’ve scored three or more goals and they managed twelve shots on target, more than any other side in a single league game this season. But beyond the statistics, Tottenham played with an intensity and belief stemming from their young, English core of Dele Alli, Eric Dier, and Kane.

“The most important thing is that the players believe in the way we play and we share the same philosophy. Today was a big step forward because it was a very good example of how we want to play, and how we want to play in the future,” said Pochettino.

Kane opened their account on twenty-three minutes as Alli’s blocked effort deflected right into the forward’s path. Kane spun around Carl Jenkinson, shrugging the defender off with his strength near the penalty spot, and blasted a volley into the roof of the net. West Ham held on for a decent opening half hour and they came within the width of a post of an equalizer, when the flag somehow stayed down to keep Cheikhou Kouyaté’s acrobatic effort onside.

Eight minutes later, Alderweireld climbed ahead of Andy Carroll to nod a towering near-post header into the back of the net from Christian Eriksen’s in-swinging corner. Kane should have made it three on the brink of halftime, dragging a low effort wide after being put in on goal, but secured the win on the other side of the half with a low, wobbling effort from long range. James Tomkin’s loose pass was intercepted by Christian Eriksen, who slipped the ball into Kane. West Ham’s defensive woes compounded as the twenty-two-year-old’s low effort slipped underneath Adrian.

Kyle Walker made it four, pouncing on the rebound of Eriksen’s fierce volley, his first Premier League goal since 2013. Although Manuel Lanzini dragged one back late on, his step-over beating Walker, freeing up space to smash the ball into the roof of the net from a tight angle, West Ham were already crushed in spirit.

The win extended the Tottenham’s unbeaten run in the Premier League to twelve matches, a club record, and the longer it continues the closer Spurs are on the coattails of Champions League football. They’re currently in fifth place, two points behind North London rivals Arsenal, against whom they drew two weeks ago.

The only disappointment for Tottenham was Dele Alli’s needless yellow card in the second half, with suspends him from Spurs’ meeting with Chelsea next weekend. Tottenham have been ramping up their form at just the right time and with the holidays around the corner, “in The Lane, snow is glistening,” as the club’s website boasted.

Homepage photo credit: joshjdss, via Flickr

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.