It really a moan day for Tottenham Hotspur last week in the English Premier league as they suffered their first defeat at their new stadium under the spell of the hammers, it was a big shock to many football lovers out their most especially those who are following the English League. Though some still hold the believe that it was a tactical loose due to the fact that the team will be hosting high flying Ajax in the UEFA champions league during the week.
Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino made some changes to the line up due to injuries and fatigue and that I think was one of the major reason why they lost the match to West Ham. While two teams are battling for who will be the champion at the end of the season, the drama for who will also occupy the 3rd and 4th position is also another bone of contention among the remaining 4 clubs( Tottenham, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United)
The new stadium atmosphere was really great with 60,043 spectator's on ground to see what Tottenham have to offer the hammers who came into the match in a good condition. Tottenham had 70 points before the match and a win would have taking them to 73 points and that will have also increase the gap between them and the club occupying 4th position to 5 points with only two matches remaining in the league.
Despite resting some players, Tottenham started the game very well with lot of chances in the first half of the match but they were not too clinical in front of goal, Heung-Min Son, Dele Alli and Lucas Moura all looked threatening to West Ham goal keeper Lukas Fabianski but he was well positioned to deal with those chances. Christian Eriksen also had a chance to put Tottenham ahead when he wanted to dink the ball over fabianski after Son had blocked Diop from clearing the ball away.
West Ham only made one change to their line up and that was Ryan Fredericks coming in for Pablo Zabaleta at the right back, westham in the first half look lime a passenger in the game because they fail to put in some attacking force, they were just defending all through and the match ended goalless in the half time.
Arnautovic awake the hammers spirit in the 2nd half when he created the chance for the first goal at Tottenham Hotspur stadium, he dunked a through ball for Antonio in the box and the player had a good first touch by controlling with his chest before firing a powerful volley pass Hugo Lloris in the angle eight yards.
The hammers continue to defend well from every angle, Fernando Llorente who came in as a substitute had a chance from 12 yards but it was cleared off by Ryan Frederick who came from nowhere to slide the ball away. Despite Tottenham striving to equalize back, West Ham also had a chance to score another goal through Antonio before Lloris parried away Diop weak shot. Tottenham final chance to equalize in the game came in the final minutes of the stoppage time through Janssen's header but Balbuena was there to deny him.
Tottenham manager couldn't hide his feelings after the match, he says and I quote
I am very disappointed, we all feel disappointed. The first half was good, second half wasn't. One for us, one for them, but they score in the second half.
"Of course it was tough, we knew it would be tough, it's a derby. They arrive in a very good, fresh condition to compete, and for us the circumstance was very different. We now need to move on.
While on the other hand, West Ham manager, Manuel Pellegrini believed his team has played in a way he always wanted them to play against big team.
My Word For Tottenham
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
It is not easy to be in the champions league against high flying team like Ajax and still fighting for the top 4, most especially playing to teams in the bottom half of the league but you can still brace up and pull a great come back in the champions league first leg defeat and the remaining two league matches.
This is my entry for the happy moan day contest organized by @pete, you too can join through this link to participate.
I hope you find this post interesting and educating, until then, I remain my humble self @Oxygen02. Thanks For Reading👍
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