Sunday, November 20

Heartbreak at the Lane

Tottenham 3 West Ham 2

Another defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. At least I didn’t have to watch this live as Her Indoors had booked us tickets for Giselle at Sadler’s Wells — though I was hoping for some working class ballet at White Hart Lane.

Adrian’s dropped and Sakho plays up front with Ayew. Seems like West Ham play pretty well for most of the game, taking the lead through Antonio who reacts well to head in after Kouyate’s header hits the bar and Reid crosses back in to the box. Randolph makes a decent save from Janssen only to deflect the ball into the path of Winks for a second-half Spurs equaliser. But it looks like West Ham have won the game after the ref gives a penalty for pulling by Janssen on Reid and Lanzini calmly slots home.

A key moment in the game is when sub Zaza shows good skill to beat his man on the counter attack but then delays too long in passing to the unmarked Payet. It’s still 2-1 with a minute to go, but the introduction of Son for Spurs changes the game. The winger beats Antonio and crosses, with Randolph palming the ball out to Kane who can’t miss. Now is the time to respect the point. But two minutes later Son gets through on the left again and sub Nordtveit foolishly goes to ground to make a tackle and his trailing leg catches the Spurs man, who makes the most of it and persuades the ref to point to the spot. Kane converts as expected.

There’s still time for the outstanding Winston Reid to get sent off for two silly bookable offences, though at least he’s showing passion. A sickening result and we’re now really in a relegation struggle, even if there was some promise in the overall performance. I'm now tempted to give up football for ballet as at least you sometimes get to see a tutu.

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