Five things we learned as Pedro Obiang and Son Heung-min strikes see Spurs and West Ham share the spoils

Harry Kane rushed back too soon by Mauricio Pochettino, Marko Arnautovic missed at both ends of the pitch and Davinson Sanchez shines

Tottenham were forced to rescue a point against West Ham (Getty)

Wonder strikes from Pedro Obiang and Son Heung-min saw West Ham and Tottenham share the spoils in an entertaining London derby at Wembley.

Obiang scored with a sublime long-range strike from 30-yards to open the scoring, midway through the second-half. It was West Ham’s only shot on target all evening.

Tottenham began to pile on the pressure and equalised through a long-range effort of their own, with Son Heung-min curling a shot over Adrian from some 25-yards.

The home side came close to snatching a winner in injury time but West Ham held firm to win a valuable point, which lifts them another point clear of the relegation zone.

Here are five things we learned.

Wonder goals light up game short of quality

Pedro Obiang opened the scoring with a stunning long-range strike (Getty)

Sometimes the stats tell their own story. Tottenham enjoyed 71% possession. West Ham 29%. Tottenham had seven corners. West Ham one. And Tottenham notched up 31 shots on goal, to West Ham’s three. And yet the shares were spoiled.

And, despite all evidence to the contrary, a draw was probably the fair result. Spurs were poor all evening, failing to really raise their game even after conceding the late goal. West Ham meanwhile didn’t play pretty but they were effective, defending doggedly and restricting their opponents to half-chances all evening.

Really, what could they do? Robbed of their best player before kick-off, they were still just six-minutes away from completing one of the most remarkable smash-and-grabs of the season. Neither side were at their best, although it will be West Ham who take more pride in the result.

Kane rushed back too soon

Tottenham's star man was not at the races against West Ham (Getty)

Mauricio Pochettino decided Harry Kane was well enough to bring back into his starting XI against West Ham, with Fernando Llorente — who opened the scoring against Swansea — dropping back onto the bench.

It was an inevitable decision, but the wrong one. Kane simply never looked up to scratch and missed a number of half-chances, as he struggled to get himself up to speed.

The Premier League’s top goalscorer did have a couple of penalty shouts in the second-half, but to say they were half-hearted is to be generous, and Kane at his best would have had the ball safely tucked into the back of the net before being brought down. He would have been more impactful if handed another cameo appearance, rather than started from the outset.

Arnautović a loss at both ends of the pitch

David Moyes decided against risking Marko Arnautović (Getty)

There was bad news for West Ham supporters before a ball had even been kicked, when the news broke that Marko Arnautović had tweaked his hamstring prior to kick-off and would not be risked by David Moyes.

He was greatly missed by the away side. Not only is Arnautović West Ham’s principal goal threat, with five goals in his last six Premier League appearances, but he is also their main outlet.

Without him on the pitch, long ball after long ball was punted over the head of the tireless — but 5 ft 9 in — Javier Hernández, allowing the Tottenham defence to mop up before resuming the pressure. It took Obiang's wonder strike for West Ham to register their first shot on goal.

Poker faced Poch decides against ringing the changes

Mauricio Pochettino watches on (Getty)

While other Premier League managers were turning the chill winter air blue with their moans about the congested festive fixture list, Pochettino was taking great delight in telling journalists how his Spurs squad boasted the strength in depth to rise to the challenge.

“It will be difficult for the players, but I am not going to complain,” he said after the Swansea win. “We are maybe going to rotate and make some changes to bring some fresh legs to the team.”

In the end this turned out to be something of a ruse, as Spurs made just three changes. But if anything, they should have made even less. Kane was clearly not fully fit and struggled to make much of an impact. Moussa Sissoko was poor in place of Érik Lamela, who was missed. Only Serge Aurier, who replaced Kieran Trippier, came close to making a positive impression.

Sánchez shrugs off a poor performance

The central defender was much improved for Spurs (Getty)

Davinson Sánchez had a poor game against Swansea on Tuesday night and was incredibly lucky not to be dismissed when he clattered into the back of Martin Olsson. Pochettino quickly decided to haul him off.

“We were all worried about the second yellow card,” Pochettino later explained. “The first half yellow card wasn't bad, but the fans started putting pressure on the referee [Bobby Madley] and it can become a problem. So I decided to take him off the pitch.”

All eyes were on the young Colombian to see how he would recover, and the 21-year-old more than stepped up to the plate. Although he was rarely tested by Hernández, he marshalled the West Ham counter-attack well and confidently brought the ball out from defence on numerous occasions.