Tottenham Lose At Home To West Ham In Ajax Rehearsal

By Max Wise

West Ham United inflicted upon Tottenham Hotspurs their first defeat at their new stadium with a hard-fought 1-0 victory on Saturday afternoon.

Michail Antonio’s second half strike was all the visitors needed to beat the Champions League semi-finalists and blow the race for the top four wide open again.

Tottenham, who host Ajax Amsterdam next in a mid-week Champions League semi-final game, remain third on 71 points, whiles West Ham United are hovering around mid-table on 46 points.

West Ham showed their attacking intents as early as the second minute, with Professional Footballers Association(PFA) Young Player of the Year nominee, Declan Rice, striking a 20-yard effort just over the bar.

Tottenham Hotspurs had their first sight at goal in the 12th minute, after Dele Alli teased a ball behind the West Ham defence for Son Heung Min to run onto, but the South Korean’s effort was straight at Lucasz Fabianski at the near post.

Tottenham unlocked the West Ham defence with a neat piece of interplay in the 37th minute, but Christian Eriksen’s shot was straight at Fabianski after Son’s effort had been blocked.

Hugo Lloris reacted brilliantly on the cusp of half time to deny the visitors from taking the lead as he readjusted his feet just in time to save Felipe Anderson’s deflected strike.

West Ham started the second half just as they started the first with Marko Arnautovic in the thick of events. The Austrian brilliantly held up play and fed Ryan Fredericks but the full-back’s effort was deflected over the top.

Arnautovic again produced a brilliant piece of skill to bring down his goalkeeper’s goal kick before stinging the arms of Lloris with a fierce strike in the 50th minute.

Michail Antonio then made history by becoming the first visiting player to score at the new Tottenham Hotspurs stadium when he latched onto Arnautovic’s delicate ball into the penalty box and half-volleyed a beautiful finish into the far corner in the 67th minute.

Antonio again nearly caused havoc when he forced Lloris into a sprawling save at his near post with nine minutes remaining, before Hammers centre-back, Issa Diop’s rampaging run from the back ended up in a one-on-one with Lloris, which was saved.

Tottenham threw on Fernando Llorente and Vincent Jannssen in a bid to salvage a point, and it was the latter who came closest to equalizing but his header was hoofed off the line by Fabian Balbuena in stoppage time.