Hammers victorious in Spurs Derby

West Ham United picked up their first home win since 23 August on Sunday afternoon and it was also their first London derby success this season. What a win it was, as they beat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0.

David Moyes named the same side that beat Everton last weekend which meant that Angelo Ogbonna made his 200th appearance for the club, while Harrison Ashby was again amongst the substitutes as he had been for the last two games.

Moyes wasn’t in charge the last time that new Spurs Head-Coach Nuno Espírito Santo visited East London but the Hammers did the double over his Wolverhampton Wanderers side and the Scotsman was looking for his third straight success over the Portuguese.

With both teams being involved in European action three days earlier, the first half was not quite at the level you’d expect from a derby which is as hotly contested as this one usually is but there was still action at both ends.

As early as the eighth minute, visiting goalkeeper Hugo Lloris saved well from Pablo Fornals after the Spaniard met Jarrod Bowen’s cross.

After Łukasz Fabiański had done well to deal with a number of Tottenham efforts, West Ham could have grabbed the advantage on thirty five minutes. Tomáš Souček flicked on a cross from Fornals and beat Sergio Reguilón to the ball but unfortunately for the hosts, he was unable to direct his header past Lloris.

Harry Kane scored his first goal of the season away at Newcastle United last weekend and he almost added to his tally here as he was on the end of Reguilón’s cross but thankfully, Fabiański tipped the effort over.

When referee Paul Tierney blew the whistle for the break, the scoreline seemed a fair one but I bet that fans of both sides would have been hoping for a breakthrough.

If the first-half was slow to kick into life, the same cannot be said of the second forty five minutes.

The Irons had beaten Spurs here last season and they wanted to replicate that success. They could have gone ahead early on through efforts from both Saïd Benrahma and Bowen but unfortunately, the visiting defence was in the way. Ben Johnson also tried his luck but there was no way through for him either.

The atmosphere had really been ramped up since the teams reemerged from the break and it got even better when Antonio put the East Londoners ahead on seventy two minutes, as he beat Lloris from Aaron Cresswell’s corner.

Spurs sent on Bryan Gil and Giovanni Lo Celso in place of both Reguilón and Tanguy Ndombele on eighty four minutes, while at the same time Moyes introduced Manuel Lanzini for Benrahma.

Both teams made further substitutions, as three minutes of stoppage time were signalled. Moyes changed formation and brought on Craig Dawson to replace Bowen, while Espírito Santo took off Lucas Moura and this meant that Steven Bergwijn could enter the fray.

Having won at Manchester United in the third round of the Carabao Cup, the Hammers will now try and knock the current holders out of the competition as the home faithful face another game in Stratford on Wednesday night, as Manchester City are the visitors.