Tottenham vs West Ham match report: Harry Kane’s hot streak goes on to keep Spurs in contention

Tottenham 4 West Ham 1

Harry Kane thrashes in his second of the game (Getty Images)

Less than one month ago Harry Kane had one Tottenham goal all season and was facing a barrage of questions and doubts. Was he suffering from second-season syndrome? Was he a serious player, a reliable player, or just a talented youngster on a hot streak?

Kane scored a hat-trick at Bournemouth on 25 October and then scored again in his next three games. Today, at White Hart Lane, he scored two more, to dispatch a West Ham United side which was simply not in the same class as Tottenham. Kane now has eight goals in five, playing as well as he did at any point last season. If this is second-season syndrome, Kane’s third year in the first team will be worth watching.

This Spurs team depends on Kane, but as long as he keeps playing this well, they will continue to rise up the league, an authentic threat for the Champions League places at the very least. It was Kane who broke this game open for Spurs, making the chance for himself which made it 1-0, and Kane who killed it, beating Adrian from distance early in the second half.

This fixture, so often so tight and so competitive, was barely a contest at all once Tottenham had the lead. The two sides started the afternoon in adjacent places, separated only by goal difference. On this evidence, they will finish the season far apart. Spurs are very serious contenders for end-of-season baubles. Whether West Ham are or not is still unclear.

These three points do not move Spurs into the top four but do leave them just two behind Arsenal and Manchester City, three behind Manchester United and four behind Leicester.

There is every reason to believe that Spurs are here to stay, and will only get better. They are, remarkably, unbeaten since the opening day, and are a more coherent unit than some of the sides above them.

If there is one worry it is Spurs’ participation in the Europa League, which is taking them to Azerbaijan on Thursday to play Qarabag in Baku, before they return to host Chelsea back here on Sunday. Spurs will be without Dele Alli, though, who was booked after getting unnecessarily involved in a disagreement between Kane and Mark Noble.

But Chelsea have a long trip of their own this week, to Israel, and are not playing with anywhere near the confidence, authority or style that Tottenham now show most weeks under Pochettino.

This was not as good as those famous home wins against Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal, but only because of the poverty of the opposition. West Ham provided 20 minutes of competition and then completely collapsed, allowing Spurs to run through them. On another day Spurs could have scored six or seven.

The surprising thing was that it took half of the first half for Spurs to break through. West Ham came to White Hart Lane without Dimitri Payet, but with an apparent desire to make things difficult for Spurs. They packed the midfield, snapped into tackles and threatened to turn this into a long afternoon. Pochettino looked frustrated with his team’s ponderous play. He need not have worried.

Because when Spurs started to turn it up, 20 minutes in, West Ham simply could not live with them. Son Heung-min, making his first start for two months, started to find space in between the lines, and West Ham were in danger. Spurs’ first good move went through Son, Mousa Dembélé and Christian Eriksen, whose deflected shot Adrian, the West Ham goalkeeper, saved well. With their next attack Spurs were ahead.


 Harry Kane opens the scoring against West Ham
 (Getty Images)

Son rolled the ball to Alli, whose 20-yard shot ricocheted off Winston Reid. The ball fell to Kane, who spun away from Carl Jenkinson with embarrassing ease before finishing emphatically into the ceiling of the net.

Spurs sensed blood and continued to push. Dembélé and Danny Rose forced a corner down the left. Eriksen curled it in and Toby Alderweireld darted to the near post, leaped in front of Andy Carroll and headed past Adrian.

There was no real challenge from West Ham and it was only good fortune that kept them within two goals of Spurs going into the interval. Alli headed one rebound on to the bar and then, with Spurs’ next attack, played Kane in on goal. With more time or space than he needed, Kane should have scored his second but dragged his shot clumsily wide.

Kane only needed five minutes of the second half to make up for it. When James Tomkins lost control of a pass from Adrian, Eriksen stole it and passed to Kane. His shot from the edge of box deflected off Reid and spun underneath the goalkeeper.

Despite conceding four goals, Adrian was West Ham’s best player, keeping the scoreline relatively respectable. He saved twice from Eriksen and twice from Ryan Mason before Kyle Walker eventually made it four, with a perfect finish with the outside of his right boot.

The travelling supporters did have something to celebrate, as Manuel Lanzini scored the consolation goal of the season, thundering a shot in off the underside of the bar after making space with a stepover. But this was a dispiriting afternoon for West Ham, who, not for the first time this season, were a mess. With no Payet there was very little attacking quality or imagination, and with a blunt Carroll up front they never once threatened to get in behind Spurs. Diafra Sakho was shunted out wide to accommodate Carroll, to the benefit of neither.

More worrying, though, was the lack of defensive discipline and organisation throughout the side. West Ham make too many mistakes at the back, individually and collectively. Once Spurs scored, West Ham never looked like digging in or even threatening to get back into the game.

With no Payet until the new year, West Ham are likely to find their level soon and drop back into mid-table. Tottenham, though, are still finding theirs, and will keep moving in the opposite direction.