Tottenham Hotspur failed to capitalise on the chance to go top of the Premier League with a devastating 1-0 loss to fellow Londoners West Ham United, in their final battle at Upton Park.
Spurs failed to score in the game, as well as makes any clear cut chances, Mauricio Pochettino’s men will now have to look at bouncing back with a win in this upcoming weeks North London derby at home to Arsenal. Here's how we rated the players
Goalkeeper and defence
Hugo Lloris: As always, Lloris was able to produce the saves when needed, although there wasn’t that many for him to deal with. Lloris was unable to stop Michail Antonio’s header which lead to the winning goal. Hugo also gave Spurs fans some worrying spells as he encountered some close calls with the ball with Emmanuel Emenike. 7
Kieran Trippier: Trippier didn’t have his best game in a Spurs shirt today. He struggled going forward to enhance Spurs’ attacks. He also found himself losing the ball several times, either whilst passing or a miss control. 5
Toby Alderweireld: On his 27th birthday, Alderweireld was unable to help guide Spurs to a win. He was as always stable at the back, although he did seem to struggle with Emenike’s pace as well as Dimitri Payet running at him with the ball. Alderweireld surprisingly had the tied most shots for the side today and troubled Adrian with one of them, performance could have been better. 6
Kevin Wimmer: Since coming in for the injured Jan Vertonghen, Wimmer has seemed to settle into the league impressively. Today, Wimmer found himself lucky to have remained on the pitch, as he committed a fair amount of fouls, especially with Emenike. Wimmer was eventually subbed off for Tom Carroll. 4
Ben Davies: Like Trippier, Davies struggled making an impact going forward with the ball today. He practically mirrored Trippier’s performance today, also losing the ball cheaply to a lack of control or bad passing. Critics before the game had spoken about the condition of the pitch, although it may have played apart, Davies’ ball skills were not up to scratch today and was caught out one or two times by Antonio. 5
Midfield and attack
Eric Dier: Dier has played a pivotal role throughout the campaign this year, and really combines well with the two centre backs. However today he was far from pleasing. Dier allowed Payet to find space in-between the defence and himself, allowing him to cause trouble throughout the entire game, he simply just didn’t look at the races this game and you should hope to see a dramatic improvement on Saturday. Dier eventually moved back into the back four once Pochettino introduced Carroll for Wimmer. 5
Ryan Mason: Mason saw himself making a rare start for the side in an important game. Mason was to play alongside Eric Dier with more freedom. West Ham didn’t allow Mason any real time on the ball, therefore he struggled to get involved in the game and make an impact. Ryan Mason was fairly useful when it came to defending, as seeing him make a fair few good challenges. 6
Erik Lamela: Lamela’s high pressing attitude was put to work in the opening minutes of the game, as West Ham put the pressure on the Spurs side. He suffered a blow to his head early on, but was able to continue. Lamela was fairly quite in the first half, and for various parts of the game he saw himself on the other side of the pitch. He had a free header later on in the second half, although it was a challenging position to get anything on target, as he could only steer the ball wide. Lamela was also to deliver some dangerous crosses, however none of which were taken to advantage. 5
Christian Eriksen: This game was a battle of the playmakers. Eriksen against Payet, where on this occasion it seemed that Payet was to come out on top. Eriksen struggled to create anything special for Spurs, with the West Ham defence mainly being on lockdown for the majority of the second half. Eriksen’s best chance came when he was able to weave past a few defenders and fire a shot straight at Adrian. 5
Nacer Chadli: One word can describe the Belgians performance. Awful. Chadli gave the ball away on numerous occasions and was no help to the Spurs attack whatsoever. His first touch was sloppy, his decisions where not on point and he looked to distance himself from the game as it went on. Chadli was at fault for the one goal this game, as his sloppy back pass to Davies led to the corner, where he lost his man, Antonio, who nodded home the winning goal. Chadli was replaced by Dele Alli early on in the second half. 3
Harry Kane: The talisman hasn’t looked lively these past few games. Kane who wore a mask due to a broken nose, was unable to test Adrian in any way shape or form. The West Ham defence seemed to have him right where they wanted him, and kept him quite all game. Kane’s best chances came in the second half, where a parried shot from Alderweireld left him with practically an open net. Kane could only fire into the ground where Adrian was able to kick it away. Another chance fell to him in the latter stage of the second half, where he could only mis-kick the ball with his left foot well wide of target. 5
Substitutes
Dele Alli: After being declared to have picked up a knock in training, Alli was rested before the upcoming North London derby game. Due to the performance of the side, it was desperate measures for Pochettino who decided to throw Alli into the game in an attempt to get something from the game. Alli was very positive when coming on and looked to get forward quickly something we lacked the entire game. You wouldn’t have expected any magic from a gut not 100% fit. 5
Heung-Min Son: When watching the game, it was a struggle heard his name once. Son was basically inexistent when coming on. His name literally didn’t come up once in commentary and that alone tells you the story of the day for Tottenham. Unfortunate, he couldn’t have an impact form the bench like Chadli did last Sunday. 3
Tom Carroll: Carrol came on for Wimmer, who seemed to be taken off precautionary due to being booked, and lucky to still be on the pitch. Carroll came on with less than 10 minutes to go and was literally used as a precaution for the weekend. N/A