After beating West Ham United 2-0 in Premier League on Tuesday at an empty Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Spurs manager Jose Mourinho said that even though it was not an amazing match, they deserved the victory.
“It was deserved, not an amazing match, but it’s very difficult to play amazing in this period. We were consistent, always under control and we always had the feeling of ‘we are going to win this game’,” Mourinho was said as quoted on the official website of Tottenham Hotspur.
Skipper Harry Kane starred as Mourinho’s men produced one of their best performances this year and deserved every bit of their first victory since February, especially after their lackadaisical show against Manchester United last weekend.
However, the game had started on a slow note with the home team adopting a cautious approach against the relegation-threatened West Ham in the initial minutes. Tottenham took time to find the holes in the visitors’ backline before shifting to the offensive mode.
“But not easy. West Ham defend well, compact. In the first half it took us some time to get into the game. Then in the last part of the first half we started creating. We scored through Sonny’s disallowed goal, we almost scored by Lucas.
“Then we started the second half with that same intensity and the goal had to arrive. It’s an important victory for us, three points, and a must-win if we wanted to dream of something great. We had to win this game.”
The second half streamed different visuals with Tottenham launching one attack after another and Kane found himself in the heart of the matters. He had no shortage of opportunities as his near post flick was turned behind by Fabianksi before he fired wide after sprinting the full length of the field as Spurs broke dangerously from a West Ham corner.
However, as luck had it for the visitors, after successfully averting the hosts’ vicious approach, they got bitten by one of their own. Tomas Soucek, in his bid to clear a Spurs corner in the 64th minute, unwittingly sent the ball back into his own net.
In the 82nd minute, Kane timed his run perfectly from a Son pass before coolly slotting past Fabianski and collapsing to the ground in a mixture of relief and exhaustion.