West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur shared the points in a rainy London derby. The result did not help either team in the race for international football
After the late and all the more bitter 4-3 defeat at Newcastle, West Ham coach David Moyes was forced to make a personnel change. Fabianski replaced the stricken Areola in the Hammers’ box.
Spurs, on the other hand, made three changes and can still dream of competing in the top flight. After the 2-1 mandatory win against Luton Town, coach Ange Postecoglou introduced Bentancur and Johnson from the start alongside former Wolfsburg player van de Ven. Dragusin, Sarr and Kulusevski took their places on the bench for the time being.
Werner serves Johnson
The visitors took control early on at the rainy London Stadium, although West Ham’s Bowen missed the first chance of the game (4th).
What the Englishman had failed to do in front of the Spurs goal, Johnson did better at the other end just a minute later. Following preparatory work from Leipzig loanee Werner, the Welsh international pushed the ball over the line from around four meters out
Zouma is allowed to head in without pressure from the opponent
West Ham struggled to get a grip on the game and visibly struggled – partly due to the slippery surface. However, the home fans were suddenly able to cheer in the 19th minute after Zouma expertly headed Bowen’s corner into the net. Tottenham’s entire backline lost sight of the powerful central defender.
Not much more was to happen in either penalty area until the break. While free-kick expert Ward-Prowse failed to beat Vicario from around 25 meters (37′), Tottenham’s Bentancur also shot too inaccurately in the second minute of stoppage time
West Ham start the second half strongly
The period immediately after the restart was clearly in the Hammers’ favor, but they were unsuccessful in front of goal through Antonio (48′), Marvropanos (49′) and Lucas Paqueta (50′). Tottenham survived the pressure phase, but had to tremble again in the 60th minute. In a one-on-one with Antonio, goalkeeper Vicario kept the upper hand.
There were no goals worth mentioning from either side after that, which is why Spurs coach Postecoglou wanted to inject some fresh impetus with the substitutions of Kulusevski (70′, for Maddison) and Richarlison (82′, for Werner), among others.
Udogie misses the lucky punch
However, neither of the two jokers had much of an impact on the game and the London derby ended in a 1-1 draw. The promoted Udogie had the chance for the lucky punch in stoppage time, but put the ball flat into the arms of Fabianski with a direct shot (90.+4).
Ahead of West Ham’s first leg of their Europa League quarter-final against Bayer Leverkusen (April 11, 9pm), the Hammers, who remain in seventh place in the race for Europe for the time being, face Wolverhampton Wanderers away from home on Saturday (4pm). Tottenham remain just outside the top four and host Nottingham Forest (7pm) the following day.
