Tottenham 2-0 West Ham: Lo Celso shines as Spurs end torrid run of form

An own goal from Tomas Soucek and a first goal from Harry Kane since returning from injury gave Spurs a valuable win in North London.

LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 23: Harry Kane of Tottenham Hotspur celebrates with teammate Ben Davies of Tottenham Hotspur after scoring his team's second goal during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on June 23, 2020 in London, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in all fixtures being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Neil Hall/Pool via Getty Images)

By Daniel Huggins23 June 2020 22:18 BST

Tottenham Hotspur finally grabbed a win tonight after comfortably dispatching London rivals West Ham 2-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Spurs thought they took the lead on the verge of half time after Heung-Min Son cooly slotted the ball beyond Lukasz Fabianksi, but VAR deemed the Korean offside.

Opportunities for Michail Antonio, Pablo Fornals, and Jarrod Bowen could have put West Ham in the driving seat, but a combination of good defending from Spurs and good saves from Hugo Lloris denied the Hammers.

An unfortunate Tomas Soucek own goal gave Spurs the lead which they very much deserved, before Harry Kane ran clean through on goal and found the back of the net comfortably to give Spurs a valuable win.

Story of the match

The visitors started off the brighter of the two sides and had a penalty shout in the third minute when Mark Noble wandered into the box before being crowded out by the Spurs defence; VAR and the referee had none of the West Ham skipper's appeals.

Harry Kane managed a couple of attempts in the first half despite the amount of West Ham bodies surrounding him, the first a potshot from distance and the second a header from the corner that flew over the bar.

Spurs thought they had taken the lead just before half time when Giovani Lo Celso wriggled his way out of a compact space on the edge of the box, before sliding in Heung-Min Son who finished cooly - before VAR subsequently ruled the goal out for offside.

Son, offside by a small margin, then watched his teammate Lucas Moura, on his 100th Spurs appearance, less than a minute after the goal was ruled out waste a golden chance to put Spurs in front after Ben Davies slid the ball back across the box to the Brazilian who dragged his shot wide.

The home side immediately looked to put West Ham under pressure straight away after half time, with Eric Dier having a shot from distance before Kane almost flicking the ball past Lukasz Fabianksi - the former Arsenal goalkeeper managed to block the attempt.

Pablo Fornals had a big opportunity against Wolves at the weekend to open the scoring for the Hammers, and he did again in the 54th minute of this game when Bowen found him in acres of space in the box - the Spaniard agonisingly struck the ball wide.

Five minutes later, Kane wasted a glorious opportunity from a Spurs counter-attack after Lo Celso slid him in through on goal, but the Englishman's strike narrowly went wide of the far post.

Michail Antonio and Erik Lamela both had good chances too to break the deadlock, but the breakthrough came for Spurs from a Thomas Soucek own goal.

A Lo Celso corner was flicked on by Lucas Moura towards the feet of the Czech midfielder who could not sort his feet out in time, and the ball deflected off him past a helpless Fabianksi to give the home side the lead.

Jarrod Bowen so almost equalised for the Hammers after Antonio again was a nuisance in the box from a corner, the ball dropped to the former Hull City winger who came inside and struck the woodwork.

However, it was Spurs who got the second goal of the game to make it 2-0, when Lamela robbed the ball off Antonio before playing a neat one-two with Lo Celso and then sliding the ball to Son who in turn slid Harry Kane through on goal - the Englishman was never going to miss and was understandably incredibly relieved to have grabbed the goal.

Steven Bergwijn almost grabbed a third for Spurs in stoppage time before Kane nearly grabbed a second after Serge Aurier whipped in a cross that was just too high for him.

Spurs held on for their 5th clean sheet of the season and a very important win in their race for European qualification, while West Ham continue their poor run of form which extends back to before lockdown.

Man of the match - Giovani Lo Celso

Everything good Spurs did seemed to go through the gifted Argentine - his class in midfield was a level above everyone else and but for VAR, he would have got his much deserved first assist in the Premier League.

His dribbling, quick turn of pace, work rate and vision justifies why Spurs fans and his manager rates him so highly - you can see shades of Luka Modric in his style of play which is something Spurs have lacked ever since the Croatian departed for Real Madrid back in 2012.