A dominant second-half performance saw us pick up a glorious and comprehensive derby win at West Ham United on Saturday evening.
Although on top in the first half, we had to wait until early in the second period for the breakthrough thanks to Pape Matar Sarr’s fine header and, after Tomas Souček received a straight red card, we took full advantage. Lucas Bergvall netted his first-ever Premier League goal, on what was his 50th appearance in our colours, to make it 2-0 almost immediately before Micky van de Ven added a third to wrap up our first win at the London Stadium in six visits.
Thomas Frank handed a Spurs debut to new signing Xavi Simons, who took Legacy Number 898 as a result, while fellow new boy Randal Kolo Muani remained on the bench. Mohammed Kudus started against his former club.
The hosts had the first opportunity in the 14th minute, our former Academy graduate Kyle Walker-Peters, Jarrod Bowen and Mateus Fernandes combining to set up Lucas Paqueta, whose neat turn created space inside the area only to drag his shot wide of the post. We had the ball in the net five minutes later, Cristian Romero heading in Kudus’ corner but referee Jarred Gillett ruled it out for an apparent push by van de Ven on Walker-Peters in the area and VAR agreed with his decision, although it looked soft on the replays.
Indeed, corners were proving to be a dangerous outlet for us, eight of them alone in the first half, with the delivery from Kudus and Simons on either side causing all sorts of problems in the Hammers area, without the final touch falling our way. We were certainly the dominant team in that opening period, enjoying 57 per cent of the possession and playing some neat football as well, although it was no surprise when we took the lead from a corner just two minutes after the interval. Simons this time went deep with his delivery and Sarr was unmarked to power a header into the net.
West Ham went close to an immediate equaliser when a Bowen snap-shot was parried away for a corner by Guglielmo Vicario, while Max Kilman headed a Bowen free-kick over the bar as Graham Potter’s side looked for a swift response. But their cause was a dealt a huge blow in the 54th minute when Souček received a straight red card for a studs-up challenge on the stretch on Joao Palhinha. And just two minutes later, a magnificent ball from Romero found Bergvall in between two defenders and he sent a superb looping header over Mads Hermansen to make it 2-0.
That lead was increased eight minutes later with a well-taken finish from van de Ven, who swept the ball home from 12 yards out after Bergvall had evaded a couple of challenges, before Kudus then fired a volley over the bar as we kept up the pressure on the home goal. The healthy advantage allowed boss Thomas the opportunity to make five early substitutions as the result was in the bag and Kudus so nearly got the goal he so desperately craved back on familiar turf, only for Hermansen to deny him with a smart save low down to his left in the closing minutes.