Emerson Royal and Heung-min Son's goals led to a 2-0 London derby win for Tottenham over West Ham, which ensured that the hosts moved into the top four of the Premier League table.
A cagey first 45 minutes suggested that things may not have been as comfortable for the hosts. However, an energetic start to the second half led to a brilliantly worked opening goal from Emerson – a blow West Ham never seemed likely to recover from.
The game was put to bed following Son's goal, just a few minutes after him coming on off the bench. Tottenham's number seven finished calmly after some very good work from Harry Kane provided him with the chance.
Newcastle's recent stall has meant that Tottenham now move above Eddie Howe's side, into the UEFA Champions League qualification places, with one point and game played more than the Magpies.
Yesterday's results moved West Ham down into the relegation zone and tonight's defeat means that David Moyes' team will remain there until next weekend, at the very least
Story of the match
In addition to Cristian Stellini taking charge of the hosts, there were three personnel changes within the Tottenham ranks from their midweek defeat at Milan. Ivan Perisic, Pape Sarr and Son made way for Ben Davies, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Richarlison.
Other than the enforced absence of Lucas Paqueta, Moyes also elected to demote Said Benrahma to the West Ham bench. Tomas Soucek and Flynn Downes came into their XI, meaning a slight change in system for the visitors.
Jarrod Bowen’s first attempt at goal of the game, within a minute of kick-off, was the instigator of a fairly positive start by the visitors. The first-time strike from just outside of the box fizzed narrowly past both the dive of Fraser Forster and his far post.
Without creating any real danger afterwards, West Ham settled into the game well enough, not allowing Tottenham to assert any substantial pressure on their goal. A volley from Oliver Skipp, redirected for a corner through Soucek's block, was one of the few sights of goals either team had during the opening stages.
The Hammers came into the game as the only team yet to score a goal within the opening 15 minutes of a Premier League fixture – that record was extended here; Bowen’s early, dangerous effort was their only one within that period of time.
However, they would have been feeling relieved to not have been behind following the conclusion of the opening 15 minutes, as for the second week in a row, Moyes’ team got away with another potential penalty decision. Like it did Soucek’s last week, the ball struck the arm of Thilo Kehrer inside of the West Ham box – an incident deemed, surprisingly, not worthy of a VAR intervention.
From that point on, it was all Tottenham. The hosts controlled the possession and never looked prone to conceding a potential West Ham counter, not that the visitors showed any great intention to organise one.
For all of Spurs’ territorial dominance, chances were very rare to come by. It took until the 36th minute for the game to see its’ first shot on target – Hojbjerg’s long range effort, which caused Fabianski little bother to deal with.
Leading up to the half-time break, a few injury-related stoppages added a stop-start nature to what already was a drab affair. A half-chance for Richarlison in added time, created initially through a long ball which Lukasz Fabianski struggled to deal with, was a fairly unmemorable highlight.
Following the restart, it seemed that Tottenham would be able to impose themselves more on the visitors during the second 45 minutes. First, a loose pass from Nayef Aguerd gifted Dejan Kulusevski the opportunity to set-up Richarlison to have a comfortable effort at goal from a central position, but the Brazilian's strike was disappointingly tame.
Within a minute, Kulusevski provided another opportunity, this time for Kane. The club's new leading all-time top goalscorer scuffed his effort uncharacteristically wide.
Tottenham's early second half pressure was then made to count, as the game got the goal it desperately needed in the 56th minute.
Ben Davies' powerful run down the left side was excellently picked out by Hojbjerg – the midfielder perfectly threaded the ball through the Hammers' backline, into the path of the Welshman. A simple pass across goal to Emerson Royal allowed Davies' fellow wing-back to produce a composed, first-time finish, rolling the ball into the bottom corner.
Now knowing they required a goal, the visitors aimed to start showing some attacking intent. Bowen almost provided them with an immediate equaliser. After he was played in following a long ball through the middle of the pitch, his effort forced Forster into a decent, low save.
Son's introduction off the bench came in the 68th minute and it did not take long for him to make an instant impact and kill off the contest.
Kane got the better of Angelo Ogbonna in a physical battle, allowing Tottenham's deadly forward duo to combine for a countless time. Kane's through ball into the path of the freshly-introduced Son set him up for a one-on-one encounter with Fabianski, concluding in the hosts doubling their lead.
Subsequently, there very few moments of note in the game. A free-kick from a good position by Benrahma was sent wide of the target, as the Hammers looked a team well below the level and quality of the hosts.
A couple of heavy challenges from Perisic during added time provided a bit of spice to the closing moments of a contest which had been settled for a good while prior to the final whistle.
Player of the match - Emerson Royal
With Pedro Porro enduring a pretty miserable Tottenham debut last weekend, Emerson went about ensuring that his place in Spurs' XI can be maintained for a while longer.
The Brazilian showed some great composure to finish off a chance created for him through the efforts of Hojbjerg and Davies and was a reliable presence both in and out of possession throughout the evening.