In the London Derby, both sides played quite cautiously. Tottenham Hotspur's side, with the departure of player Bentangcur and the absence of manager Antonio Conte due to surgery, with Stellini temporarily acting as the commander, the whole team looked extra cautious.
(Starting lineups for both teams)
In the first half, defense was paramount. West Ham tried to break the deadlock by attacking with high pressure and Bowen had a good chance, but Tottenham gradually stabilized their position. BenDavies, who replaced Perisic at left back, did an impressive job, keeping his eyes on West Ham's Coufal and not giving the opponent a chance to get off the mark.
Knowing that West Ham's attack relies heavily on Coufal and Bowen on the right, Spurs deliberately strengthened the defense in this area, slowing down the tempo and allowing the backfield to maintain a numerical advantage at all times. This slowed down the tempo of the first half, and West Ham could not find any better attacking opportunities after the right side was blocked, so they could only keep pressing.
Tottenham's Skipp, who came on for Bentangcur, did a decent job, holding a solid position in the center with Højbjerg, but was slightly less active than he was when Bentangcur was on the pitch. Tottenham's midfield lacked energy, Richarlison was inactive and couldn't hold onto the ball, and Kulusevski was constantly chasing the ball and trying to create chances, but overall Tottenham didn't pose much of a threat in front of goal in the first half.
In the second half, Tottenham switched to a pressing game, going up to press as soon as the ball was passed from the West Ham backfield. This created shooting opportunities for Kulusevski and HarryKane. Seeing that the opponent's backline was shaky, Tottenham accelerated their attacking tempo and directly attacked the West Ham defense.
The effect was remarkable. In the 55th minute, Tottenham launched a counterattack, and as the ball reached the halfway line, Højbjerg played a long pass that BenDavies cut in on the outside, received the ball without being offside, stopped the ball, and then quickly passed it out to Emerson, who met the pass at the back post from 16 yards out and shot straight at the goal.
West Ham lacked the ability to respond to Spurs' sudden behind-the-back play, and although they were able to control the center of the field, once they created distance, tracking back was their weakness. Tottenham took the lead and stabilized the situation, West Ham could only attack the two wings, but nothing. In the 67th minute, Tottenham Hotspur sent Sun, and soon scored again.
In the 71st minute, Tottenham Hotspur backfield kick, HarryKane and West Ham center back Ogbonna in the scramble to catch the opponent's mistake, at this time Sun began to accelerate, HarryKane diagonal pass to Sun, Sun with the power of the explosion of the defenders, sprinted to the 14-yard box shot to score. The goal is not so much a good shot, but rather a beautiful pass from HarryKane.
Tottenham had secured the win after going two goals up and West Ham were unable to recover, resulting in a 2-0 win for Tottenham over West Ham.
Son seems to be more effective at scoring when he comes on as a substitute, perhaps because he is less physical and explosive if he starts and has to take on a lot of defense, whereas he seems to be more destructive when he comes on as a substitute.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Sports Vision
Tottenham have now clawed their way back to fourth place, but they will need to be consistent in order to hold on to that position.
UEFA Champions League Round of 16 - Paris 0-1 Bayern Munich
EPL 22/23 - Liverpool 2-0 Everton
Premier League 22/23 - West Ham 1-1 Chelsea
EPL 22/23 - Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Manchester City
Premier League 22/23 - Everton 1-0 Arsenal
