5  Pablo ZABALETA
23  Issa DIOP
  4  Fabian BALBUENA
  3  Aaron CRESSWELL

41  Declan RICE
16  Mark NOBLE (c)       (30  Michail ANTONIO  72)
11  Robert SNODGRASS     

  8  Filipe ANDERSON  (17  Javier HERNANDEZ  57)
  7  Marco ARNAUTOVIC     
20  Andriy YARMOLENKO  (45  Grady DIANGANA  41)

Unused subs: 
13  ADRIAN
24  Ryan FREDERICKS
21  Angelo OGBONNA
26  Arthur MASUAKU

  2  Kieran TRIPPIER
  6  Davinson SANCHEZ
  4  Toby ALDERWEIRELD
33  Ben DAVIES

15  Eric DIER 
  8  Harry WINKS
17  Moussa SISSOKO  (23  Christian ERIKSEN  89)

11  Erik LAMELA    (19  Mousa DEMBELE  76)
10  Harry KANE  (18  Fernando LLORENTE  86)
26  Lucas MOURA

Unused subs: 
13  Michel VORM
24  Serge AURIER
16  Kyle WALKER-PETERS
  7  Heung-Min SON
 

Sunshine lit up the ground as Spurs kicked off the game.  It was only that, Erik Lamela's goal and Hugo Lloris' goalkeeping that came close to lighting up the Olympic stadium, as West Ham tried to stifle Spurs and when they did go forward, couldn't penetrate the Tottenham back-line. 

With Pochettino putting out a side with Moussa Sissoko and Davinson Sanchez due to injuries, he at least welcomed the return of Christian Eriksen and Mousa Dembele on the bench.  As it turned out, Moussa Sissoko had Tottenham's first decent effort after 11 minutes and while most thought it had gone well wide, it had taken a big deflection and went for a corner, but just after, West Ham won a corner when Trippier headed behind when the ball had gone up into the air after Alderweireld made a well timed challenge on Arnautovic as he got a pass inside the box.   Spurs won a couple of corners around the 25 minute mark, but they came to nothing as the game got scrappy and the only interest was a fan being dragged out of the West Ham section.  While the home side couldn't get the ball off the floor or past the near post from corners, Tottenham were managing that, but the ball was usually too close to Fabianski, who claimed the ball in the air without too much of a problem.

Eight minutes before half-time, Yarmolenko broke down the left wing and pulled it back to Snodgrass, but Toby was there again and managed to block the shot, which sent Lloris the wrong way, but went off for a corner.  From that, Yarmolenko went down with what looked like a bad injury when you saw the other players' reaction.  His departure from the pitch brought Grady Diangana, who shone against Macclesfield Town in the League Cup a few weeks back, into the action.  His direct running provided a bit of a threat, but he faded out of the game in the later stages.  The game was stop start and West Ham were cutting down the space and time that Spurs needed.  However, Mark Noble once more tried to play the ball infield and Lucas Moura read it and broke away.  He couldn't get the ball across, but Winks recycled it and fed Sissoko, whose cross was guided into the net by Erik Lamela with his head from the six yard line.  It was a good move and Noble contributed to West Ham's downfall, but Lamela did well to get into a scoring positions and produced a good header that didn't have a lot of power, but was placed out of the keeper's reach.

It was nearly two when Sissoko again played a ball in and Sanchez couldn't really get a decent connection on the cross allowing Fabianki to get behind it just before half time.

Straight after the restart the ball came across from Cresswell and Arnautovic put power onto his header, forcing Lloris to dive up to his right hand top corner to push the ball over.  It was a fine stretch and Hugo threw up his left hand after good footwork, to show that his form from the midweek game against Germany was not a flash in the pan.  Spurs were on the attack again and Lucas set Lamela away, with the goal ahead of him, but he tried to find Kane and the ball was hacked away.  And talking of hacks, Snodgrass made a very strong tackle on Moura and caught him on the ankle after winning the ball, which started a string of heavy tackles, with Noble getting his standard booking for not being good enough. 

Lloris was on his toes again, seeing Arnautovic's strike that was heading into his bottom left corner, but his dive pushed the ball wide for a corner.  It was another top save and from the corner, the ball was headed down but went behind for a goal kick.  There was a couple of flashpoints straight after when Arnautovic did a stereotypical rash challenge on Sanchez, then put his head into the Colombian as they got up and then ripped the Spurs defender's shirt.  A card ?  Martin Atkinson, so that's why not.

Lucas was threatening the London defence with his pace but wasn't able to find the final pass, while Winks was going about his business with no fuss, but being effective nonetheless.  Sanchez went close with a header from a corner, but was being flagged offside.  There was an incident when Hernandez went down weakly under challenge and was ignored by the referee, as he should always be, because he is the softest player in world football in my opinion.  How he ever stood up long enough to score the number of goals he has got in his career is a mystery to me.  He got the ball in the net with six minutes left, with Arnautovic giving a square ball to the Mexican, but he had gone too soon and the Austrian had strayed offside as he often does.  The flag from the lineman brought a furious reaction from the home fans, but it was a warning for Spurs, who subbed Kane and brought on Llorente.  Fernando put the ball over when Moura pulled a pass back behind Dier to find the Spaniard, but he should have done better despite Rice's challenge on him as he was about to shoot.

As four minutes of added time was announced, Arnautovic held off Sanchez, but his prodded effort was saved by Lloris, who was out at him quickly at the expense of a corner.  When Antonio went past Trippier, the ball was knocked out for a corner and this time, it was clear of the first man, but Lloris picked it out of the air.  With a late, late free-kick, the ball dropped for Antonio and he hit it with all his might, but didn't get it on target with the ball flying over the goal from the edge of the box.  By the time Hugo took the goal-kick, the ref was ready with the final whistle, fittingly with the man of the match having the last kick of the game.  The keeper had won the three points for Spurs, but it was set-pieces that have proved our demise in previous games this season that produced the scoring chances for West Ham.  Luckily, they were unable to take them and although Tottenham were not back to their best, the win maintains the club's chase at the top of the table, while Irons fans will complain that they haven't had any luck, but perhaps they were fortunate for Arnautovic and Snodgrass to stay on the pitch, but even with eleven, they were not able to force an equaliser.

Diop played well for them and Kane, playing deeper than usual, was tied by by him and Balbuena, but like the rest of the season, he has had little support or supply.  Elsewhere, there were hard-working displays from Dier, Winks, Alderweireld and Davies, while Lamela and Moura gave everything to keep the home midfield worried.  A better final pass from a few Spurs players might have set up a second goal that would have comfortably wrapped up the match.  Sissoko did produce that ball, straight onto Lamela's head and that was enough to seal the win.  It needed Hugo's reflexes to keep the home team out, as the defence was a bit rocky, with Trippier and Sanchez not having their best games.

A morale boosting win when you are not playing too well ahead of Wednesday's trip to Eindhoven.  Another one like that will be most welcome.

Isaac Gregory