West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen scored his 10th Premier League goal of the season as they shared the points with Tottenham in a meeting between two massively underperforming sides.
Both had very little riding on this fixture and it showed as the 17th-placed Hammers could not overtake their London rivals in the table after a tame derby.
Ange Postecoglou made eight changes to the Tottenham side that defeated Bodo/Glimt 3-1 in Thursday’s Europa League semi-final first leg.
With Thursday’s return the priority, the Australian’s focus was firmly on ending a dismal season on a high by winning that competition and reaching the Champions League next season.
Spurs had Max Kilman to thank for gifting them the 15th-minute opener as Mathys Tel nicked the ball from the Hammers defender and squared for the unmarked Wilson Odobert to pick his spot and claim his first league goal for Spurs.
But Bowen levelled 13 minutes later when he ran on to a through-ball from Aaron Wan-Bissaka and smartly finished through the legs of Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario to restore parity.
It was the West Ham captain’s third goal in five games in an impressive scoring run.
Richarlison then found himself in a promising position at the other end, but decided to go for a pass across the goal when the chance of a shot was on.
Chances were few and far between in the second half, but the hosts could have claimed all three points at London Stadium in the closing stages.
Vicario, though, rescued Tottenham by producing a stunning save to keep out Bowen’s glancing header from a James Ward-Prowse free-kick with eight minutes remaining.
Spurs fail to click after heavy rotation
This game was always going to be a mere footnote for Tottenham in their current circumstances as the season draws to a close.
They are two games away from winning their first silverware since 2008 in the Europa League, despite their worst season domestically since 1976-77.
They had almost put on a perfect performance against Bodo/Glimt in midweek, but a late goal from the visitors kept the last-four tie alive.
And with a difficult outing on the artificial pitch in Norway to follow on Thursday, it was not surprising Postecoglou rang the changes with his team selection and Spurs failed to click.
Only Vicario, Yves Bissouma and Richarlison kept their spots in the starting line-up as Dominic Solanke and James Maddison, both on target against Bodo/Glimt, were not involved because of injuries.
Though his side scored first, Postecoglou will be relieved his side negotiated a late West Ham rally and avoided a record 20th Premier League defeat of the season after only having two of their seven shots on target and generating an expected goals of just 0.48.
They still have Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Brighton to play in the league but, crucially, Postecoglou will hope he also has a Europa League title showdown with either Manchester United or Athletic Club to come on 21 May.
Potter’s wait for much-needed win goes on
West Ham manager Graham Potter was desperately looking for a first win in eight games here – and almost got it.
The home side were on top after the interval with Bowen going close with a volley early while Niclas Fullkrug, back in the starting line-up after his scathing remarks on his team-mates following a disappointing draw with Southampton two weeks ago, failed to keep his header down with less than 20 minutes to go.
Bowen was again their standout player and their best chance unsurprisingly fell to their skipper who had his header kept out by Vicario, before Ward-Prowse failed to get his free-kick on target in second-half stoppage time.
However, Potter will still need to make improvements to keep the Hammers faithful by his side for the next season.
After replacing Julen Lopetegui in January, the former Brighton and Chelsea boss has only collected 14 points in 15 matches and they are fourth bottom, three places below where his predecessor left the club.
They will hope to climb up the table with meetings against Manchester United, West Ham and Ipswich Town completing a below-par season.
Player of the match
J. Bowen
[BBC]