Callum Wilson scored with a quarter of his touches during West Ham United’s stunning 2-1 London derby triumph over Tottenham Hotspur on a statement Saturday afternoon in the capital.
Four touches of the football, around ten minutes on the pitch, two shots, and one potentially season-saving, point-blank range tap-in.
Much of the talk at West Ham United this January has been about Nuno Espirito Santo’s shiny new strikers; Taty Castellanos and Pablo Felipe started together for the first time in claret and blue at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Late drama 😍😍 Give us your three-word review to West Ham’s win over Spurs!
Wilson, though, would step off the bench to prove that there is still room in the Hammers toy box for something, well, more analogue.
A 93rd goal of his long Premier League career. And this could yet be one of the most impactful. Wilson avoided the dreaded VAR as he pounced on a Guglielmo Vicario flap.
Suddenly, suggestions that West Ham could terminate Wilson’s contract feel like one of those ‘seconds from disaster’ stories.
Castellanos and Pablo have both made a positive early impression. Crysencio Summerville is back on the Premier League scoresheet for the first time since October 2024. But, even if you spend £44 million in search of it, there is no substitute for instinct and experience.
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Callum Wilson reflects on West Ham United’s dramatic Tottenham triumph
Wilson now has five goals in just eight league starts as a West Ham player. One every 162 minutes on average, per WhoScored.
“You get put on to do a job, no matter if that’s five minutes or 50,” Wilson told reporters as he moved to within seven of century in England’s top flight, via BBC Sport. “Throughout my career I’ve always tried to be professional, and I did that today.”
“It was checked and cleared. Harmless really! Sometimes goalkeepers get too much love and you can’t touch them, but the other way round they can shove you. It’s a contact sport.
“Any club winning games is important, whether it’s the cup, or even just in small-sided games in training. Then it extends onto the field. Getting back-to-back games is something to build on.”
Wilson pays tribute to ‘fantastic talent’ Crysencio Summerville
A revitalised Summerville terrorised the Spurs backline during a first-half performance which surely ranks as his best 45 minutes in a West Ham jersey. His opening goal a quarter of an hour in required some luck – his shot deflected past a helpless, hapless Vicario – but few would begrudge Summerville such a moment.
That is two in two now, after 25 games without a goal.
“Cry is a fantastic talent,” Wilson added. “On the whole, he is becoming more consistent. Long may that continue for him.”
Jean-Clair Todibo and Konstantinos Mavropanos step up
Konstantinos Mavropanos was a pre-match doubt. Whatever Nuno said in his prayers to the footballing gods, they listened. Mavropanos made a colossal 14 clearances as he again proved himself to be West Ham’s most credible solution to their weaknesses from corners and crosses.
Jean-Clair Todibo was silky smooth and surprisingly speedy alongside Mavropanos at the back.
Tomas Soucek and Mateus Fernandes made nine tackles between them, meanwhile, as the oft-overworked Areola was protected by a wall of sheet-steel.
Callum Wilson at the death!
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“It was massive because there has been a lot of question marks about the boys at the back this season,” Wilson points out. “I’m delighted for them today. It was not the clean sheet they wanted but they worked so hard, blocking shots on the line at the end.
“[Mavropanos] has been sharp today. He’s had a lot of criticism, but he’s dealt with everything coming into that box,” added Matthew Upson, a former Hammers centre-back himself in the late-2000s and early-2010s.
“[Fernandes] really put his foot in and won a lot of duels and tackles. Fernandes is working tirelessly, so is Soucek.
“[And Todibo] has had a lot of sprints into the channels. It’s the liveliest I’ve seen him. He’s shown a bit of pace today. I’m seeing a bit more edge about West Ham’s centre-backs.”