The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was in full voice last Saturday, as in-form Tottenham breezed past struggling West Ham 4-1 in North London, increasing pressure on Hammers manager Julien Lopetegui.
Tottenham came into this game with optimism, welcoming back captain Son Heung-Min and Richarlison, both returning from injuries that had kept them out for a few weeks. The South Korean was named in the starting eleven straight away, boosting Tottenham's confidence to overcome their East London rivals, who had named a defensive midfield aiming to keep the hosts attacking threats to a minimum.
A shaky start from the hosts was punished 18 minutes in when Jarrod Bowen’s cutback found Mohammed Kudus who fired Lopetegui’s side ahead. From that moment on, the hosts looked threatening on every attack, with a few chances shying just wide, and a few wasted corners, frustrating the home crowd. However, their relentless pressure paid off towards the end of the first half, with Dejan Kulusevski, arguably Tottenham’s best player of the season so far, firing an attempt off both posts and crawling across the line to pull Spurs level.
Ange Postecoglou made a tactical change at the break, with midfielder Pape Sarr replacing James Maddison, and although there were puzzled looks as to why this change had been made, it transformed Tottenham’s second half. An early second half barrage, with 3 goals in 8 minutes, took the game away from West Ham, killing the game off in a matter of 10 minutes.
With Spurs 4-1 up, buzzing with confidence and their heads head high, West Ham grew more and more frustrated, and this was shown when the Hammers winger Kudus was given his marching orders after striking both Micky Van de Ven and Pape Sarr in the face.
The Ghanaian was originally awarded a yellow card, but after a quick VAR on-field check, Andy Madley upgraded his decision and brandished the red card, to top off a sorry afternoon for West Ham.