da winzada777： Tottenham saw their title challenge take a huge boost on Saturday as they won at home against West Ham 3-2, with many of their rivals at the summit dropping points.
da dobrowin： The Lilywhites thought they had gone ahead early on only to see Christian Eriksen’s strike ruled out for offside and soon after went behind thanks to Michail Antonio’s headed effort.
1-0 was how it stayed until after half time when young midfielder Harry Winks scored from close range to suggest a better second 45 was in store.
That is what happened, eventually, as Manuel Lanzini converted a penalty for the Hammers to make the score 2-1 and White Hart Lane crowd uneasy.
They needn’t have been, however, as two late Harry Kane goals sealed the victory for the men from north London – leaving West Ham fans to seriously wonder how three points slipped away from them.
A pulsating finish. Here are five things we learned from a chaotic ninety minutes.
Tottenham need more players
Tottenham’s squad just doesn’t seem big enough to cope with all that is going to be thrown at them in the coming months. Whilst their first XI is up there with pretty much any side in the league, their bench today just did not look good enough and, despite the win, that will worry Mauricio Pochettino ahead of the January window. The Argentine will surely try and get some extra players in, but finding good quality footballers available in the mid-season window is notoriously tough.
West Ham have to keep a back three despite losing
West Ham have followed Chelsea in adopting the vogue 3-4-3 formation in recent weeks and it looks as though it’s going to pay off for them too. For much of the game the system was working a treat with Tottenham being kept at bay, until the men in claret and blue capitulated right at the very end. Spurs couldn’t get their press going and the Hammers found themselves controlling large portions of the match but ultimately, blew it when it mattered.
Spurs need to work on new systems
Spurs couldn’t play their favoured 4-2-3-1 thanks to their injury list and their performance suggested they haven’t really worked on a back-up plan for this eventuality. They couldn’t get their press going nor could they get much joy down the flanks, and if they are forced to play a different formation with two strikers up top again, they may suffer once more. The second half was better as the game stretched and Dele Alli came onto restore their usual formation, but that flexibility will be needed throughout the campaign.
Antonio deserves more with England
The former Nottingham Forest man found the net once again and genuinely deserves more than sitting on the bench for England. He’s one of the top scorers in the league despite playing in midfield for a side that has struggled this season yet he still finds himself not in the England line-up. There’s no international break until March now, so the test for the wing-forward will be to try and keep these levels up until the next squad.
Tottenham could just win the league
Out of all the sides challenging for the title this season, you got the impression that Spurs were beginning to flag until the last minutes of this one. The Lilywhites kept going until the very end and got their reward as West Ham fell to bits and that kind of belief will undoubtedly give them huge momentum as we head into Christmas. Spurs remain the only unbeaten side in the league and this could turn out to be a pivotal win when we look back on things in May.