Jose Mourinho admitted troubled Tottenham’s top four hopes
are in tatters after West Ham moved into fourth place with a 2-1 win on Sunday.
Mourinho’s side slumped to a fifth defeat in their last six
Premier League games as they paid the price for a sloppy defensive display at
the London Stadium.
Michail Antonio put West Ham in front early in the first
half and Jesse Lingard doubled the hosts’ advantage after the break.
Lucas Moura reduced the deficit with his first league goal since September, but spluttering Spurs were unable to salvage a point.
West Ham climbed two points above Chelsea into the Champions
League spots as their unexpected European challenge gathered pace with a
seventh win in their last nine league matches.
It was a first triumph for West Ham boss David Moyes in 16
meetings with Mourinho.
And while Moyes has sparked a remarkable revival at West
Ham, who were in a relegation battle when he arrived last season, Mourinho’s
Tottenham are in the middle of a woeful campaign.
They are languishing in ninth and trail West Ham by nine
points, albeit with a game in hand.
“It is very difficult to think about the top four. The top
six teams are getting points. It will be very hard,” Mourinho said.
“The Europa League is a great motivation to get a Champions
League spot and a trophy at the same time.”
Tottenham have already lost eight league games this season —
the second-worst return of Mourinho’s career after losing nine with Chelsea in
2015-16.
Mourinho will have to turn the tide quickly to save his job
after Tottenham’s latest flop.
“I feel sad, obviously. We started the game with a mistake
and started the second half with another one,” Mourinho said.
“The team in the second half was trying absolutely
everything. We were the team that tried to play but the boys were not lucky.”
On West Ham’s top four dreams, Moyes said: “We have only
done half a job. If we continue this way we will be close. I don’t want to be
negative in any way.
“We are enjoying it but are also not going to be daft. We
will keep calm and hopefully keep pushing the teams at the top.
“This time last year you were asking me if we can avoid
relegation so it is a great feeling that is gone.”
Tottenham had conceded nine goals in their last three games
in all competitions and Antonio exploited more dismal defending to open the
scoring in the fifth minute.
When Son Heung-min’s slow reaction allowed Jarrod Bowen to
whip in a cross from the left, Eric Dier and Japhet Tanganga stood flat-footed
as Antonio got between them.
Antonio’s initial toe-poked effort was saved by Tottenham
keeper Hugo Lloris and the West Ham forward quickly got to his feet to stab in
the rebound from close-range.
– Toothless Tottenham -Tomas Soucek was left with blood
streaming down his face after a clash of heads with Tanganga, putting West Ham
down to 10 men for five minutes while the midfielder went off to be stitched
up.
Even then, toothless Tottenham couldn’t make any headway.
Aided by Tottenham’s statuesque rearguard, Lingard broke
clear to drive a fine finish into the far corner in the 47th minute.
An offside flag looked like it might spare Spurs, but a VAR
review overturned the decision as Lingard belatedly celebrated his third goal
since signing on loan from Manchester United.
Tottenham needed an immediate response and Harry Kane was
just off-target with a fierce free-kick before Lucas got one back in the 64th
minute.
Gareth Bale’s corner arrowed towards Lucas at the near post
and the Brazilian edged in front of his marker to glance a header past Lukasz
Fabianski.
Bale almost equalised with a blistering effort from the edge
of the area that cannoned off the bar.
Tottenham’s luck was out again in stoppage-time when the
ball rebounded off Son but looped onto the post and bounced to safety.
AFP
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