4  Jose FONTE  (26  Artuhur MASUAKU  74)
  2  Winston REID     
21  Angelo OGBONNA

  5  Pablo ZABALETA
16  Mark NOBLE (c) 
  8  Chiekhou KOUYATE
  3  Aaron CRESSWELL

30  Michail ANTONIO  (  9  Andy CARROLL  28     )
  7  Marko ARNAUTOVIC  (20  Andre AYEW  66     )

17  Javier HERNANDEZ       

Unused subs: 
13  ADRIAN
22  Sam BYRAM
41  Declan RICE
15  Diafro SAKHO

  4  Toby ALDERWEIRELD
  6  Davinson SANCHEZ
  5  Jan VERTONGHEN

15  Eric DIER     
17  Moussa SISSOKO  (  2  Kieran TRIPPIER  78)

24  Serge AURIER               
20  DELE Alli
23  Christian ERIKSEN    (29  Harry WINKS  73)
33  Ben DAVIES

10  Harry KANE      (18  Fernando LLORENTE  89     )

Unused subs: 
13  Michel VORM
37  Kyle WALKER-PETERS
  7  Heung-Min SON
14  Georges-Kevin NKOUDOU
 

A trip to the People's Stadium is never much fun, unless you are long-sighted.  And it is certainly no fun for West Ham United London fans, who have to watch their team,  have to contemplate the thoughts of being in the bottom three and then have to leave early to avoid the joyous scenes in the away section.  Today was another such outing for the Irons' fans and they were on the end of a 3-2 win by Spurs, who made it much harder than it should have been when they were controlling the game at 3-0.  That was when the great Claret and Blue exodus started.

Spurs were without Dembele.  Son and Trippier made way for Aurier and Davies.  West Ham were as expected in their line-up, but they set up in a 3-4-2-1 formation to try and counter the 3-2-4-1 system Spurs employed. 

Little happened in the first five minutes, as both teams were sizing each other up, but West ham were getting three men around Eriksen and Kane every time they got the ball. Lloris had to rush out of his box to beat Arnautovic to the ball and Eriksen's deflected shot had to be palmed over the bar as it looked as though the looping ball would drop under it.

On the quarter of an hour, Noble put Arnautovic away on the right, holding off defenders, but not Aurier, who slid in to rob him of the ball with a fine challenge. The Austrian was again denied when Lloris came out, as was Antonio, but in doing so, the Irons' striker pulled an adductor muscle and had to be replaced by Carroll. The former England striker tried to rough up Davinson, but he stood firm despite giving away a couple of free-kicks.

When Kane won a high ball ten yards inside the West ham half, it fell to Dele, who flicked it over his head to put Christian away on the left and his cross was pulled back for Harry to shoot, but it was blocked. The game flared up a little as Noble dived in late on Sissoko and got away with it.

The home side were made to pay in the 34th minute, as Carroll played a ball infield, but only found Eriksen. One pass to his right put Dele away and his cross in front of Kane was ideal for the forward to head wide of Hart to give Tottenham the lead.

Without West ham threatening the Spurs goal, Vertonghen won the ball against Carroll on halfway, got it back from Eriksen and played in Dele on the left of the box. As Hart came out to meet him, he prodded a shot, which the keeper blocked, but the ball ran onto the middle of the area where Kane was on hand to side-foot the ball in from 12 yards out and make it 2-0 in quick time.

Noble was dispossessed in midfield and wasn't quick enough to get back, resulting in Kane ending the move with a shot across goal that didn't curl enough and Dele was two yards behind getting onto it at the far post. Spurs were now controlling the game and picking balls through the home defence, with Dele's flick setting Davies in on goal, only to be held off by Zabaleta.

After the break, West ham showed their intentions by putting crosses and high balls into the box, but when Spurs broke and were awarded a free-kick on the left, Kane took it, bent the ball around the wall and saw it rebound off the foot of the far post. It went outside the box and Aurier put in a cross that Ogbonna half-blocked, but the ball fell in front of Eriksen, who took the ball first time on the half-volley and guided it into the net from just inside the area. 3-0 and Spurs were in control, as West ham were struggling to trouble Spurs.

Kane hit the post again when he was running at the West Ham defence down the left, but the ref claimed that Hart got a touch to it with his boot. With 65 minutes gone, a corner on the West Ham right was flicked on by Fonte at the near post and Hernandez crept in unmarked at the far post to head in from close range to pull a goal back. He almost made it 3-2 when he met Noble's cross and tried to beat Lloris from 12 yards, but the keeper was right behind it. Then in the 68th minute, West Ham were given another helping hand, when Aurier tackled Carroll from behind to earn a second yellow card in ten minutes to leave Spurs a man short.  Sissoko dropped back into Serge's position and shortly after Winks was brought on for Eriksen.

West Ham brought on Masuaku, as they looked to put some pressure on the Spurs back line. A ball into the box dropped for Hernandez, who fired a quickly taken shot that Lloris had to beat out and from that Spurs broke away and Harry almost set Dele in, but he was eventually crowded out. When Davies got drawn into giving a cheap free-kick away for a foul on Ayew, it looked as though Noble would put a ball in for Carroll to attack. He did, but Spurs managed to clear, although with three minutes left, Masuaku put in a cross from the left and Kouyate met it with power over Davies to net past Lloris.

You knew what was going to come for the last couple of minutes plus four added. Kane was replaced by Llorente and Tottenham looked a little rattled. From a corner Carroll wanted a penalty as he got under a header and then the loose ball was thundered over on the volley. Ayew flew into a tackle on Davies and only got a yellow card, but it importantly ate up a bit more time. That was eroded away when Carroll went wildly into an aerial challenge with Llorente, Reid and Hernandez all involved with Reid, Carroll and Dier all booked.

It was the last action, as the final whistle saw a number of empty seats among the home fans and it was a three points that put the Irons in their place, back in the bottom three.

Tottenham's fluency put West Ham to the sword, punishing their mistakes and putting the game firmly into Tottenham's hands.  The clinical finishing dried up and despite Kane hitting the post, Spurs should have worked the ball better to go on to make sure the home team didn't get back into the match.  Aurier's rash challenge on Carroll, just five minutes after getting booked, showed he has some adapting to do to the Premier League.  It was already 3-1 then and left Spurs facing a high ball last twenty minutes, as the Irons looked to land the ball onto Andy Carroll's head.  What they should have done was aim for Kouyate's, as he planted a fierce header beyond Lloris, with Spurs looking vulnerable in the air.  It was a limited tactic, as the service wasn't good enough to stretch the Spurs resistance.

Pochettino looked to make substitutions enforced by the sending off to stem the tide, but it didn't really stem the flow.  Luckily, West Ham left it too late and Bilic was left to worry about his employment status, while Pochettino will off-set his win bonus against the bill for taking the squad out last week.

Another away trip next week to Huddersfield should give Spurs the opportunity to show how they can perform against a hard-working side, playing on the break.  Sound familiar ?  It could be an interesting match-up.

Marc Spillane