West Ham United manager David Moyes described his team’s comeback against Tottenham as “one of the most significant victories I’ve experienced in football,” extending their impressive streak of performances.
Spurs earned an early lead with Cristian Romero’s header from Pedro Porro’s corner in the 11th minute. However, West Ham responded as Jarrod Bowen capitalized on a loose ball in the penalty area, equalizing in the 52nd minute.
A critical moment came when a misguided backpass from Spurs’ Destiny Udogie led to James Ward-Prowse striking the post with a side-footed effort.
Ward-Prowse swiftly followed up with the rebound, sealing West Ham’s comeback in the 74th minute.
“I think it is a huge win to come here and win against this side,” Moyes told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“I’m pleased with how we were resilient and diligent in our work, organised, defensively structured and we were always a threat as well.”
West Ham have won five of their past six fixtures across all competitions while Tottenham suffered their fourth defeat in five and have dropped points from a winning position for a fifth consecutive game.
Bowen epitomises tireless performance
West Ham is currently in a good form, but for a significant portion of the first half against their London counterparts, they had minimal possession as Tottenham appeared to control the game effortlessly.
Ghanaian player Mohammed Kudus had a goal disallowed for offside, and Lucas Paqueta’s header narrowly missed the target as the away team gained a foothold just before halftime.
After withstanding pressure from Spurs, West Ham had a stroke of luck to equalize when Kudus’ shot deflected off both Romero and Ben Davies, landing at the feet of Bowen, who delicately chipped the ball over the advancing Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.
Twenty minutes later, Bowen, once again filling in as a striker in the absence of the regular number nine Michail Antonio recovering from a hamstring injury, pressured Vicario into hastily dealing with Udogie’s errant backpass. The Italian goalkeeper inadvertently pushed the ball straight to Ward-Prowse, who calmly scored West Ham’s second after initially striking the post.
“We were up against it tonight, we had to dig in and thankfully we just about scraped it,” Moyes added on Amazon Prime.
“[It was a] huge performance because of the quality of the opposition. We are a team who can give some of the good teams a bloody nose, we have that in us.”
West Ham demonstrated clinical efficiency when necessary, with their top scorer, Bowen, embodying the team’s relentless effort.
In the Premier League this season, they have secured 10 points after falling behind, a feat surpassed only by Brighton (11) and Liverpool (15) in comeback recoveries.
Following this latest victory, the visitors maintain their position in ninth on the table. Their next league match is against Fulham, which they will host on Sunday.
Spurs drop points from winning positions again
Just slightly over a month ago, Tottenham secured an eighth league victory in 10 matches, defeating Crystal Palace to establish a five-point lead at the Premier League’s summit.
However, a recent downturn has seen them go five games without a win, marking their lengthiest winless streak since November 2019.
Despite an early lead, Ange Postecoglou’s team found themselves in a challenging situation, and just before halftime, a dangerous cross from Giovani Lo Celso was deflected onto the woodwork by the returning West Ham captain Kurt Zouma.
In the 70th minute, with the score tied at 1-1, substitute Richarlison had a golden opportunity to put Spurs ahead but directed a cross from Porro just wide from close range.
The defeat means that Tottenham has relinquished 16 points from winning positions in the Premier League this season, the highest among all teams.
They currently occupy the fifth spot in the table, trailing Manchester City by three points in fourth place. Their next match is against seventh-placed Newcastle on Sunday.