Spurs squeeze narrow win over West Ham in keenly fought contest at the London stadium

West Ham 0-1 Spurs

Spurs ran out narrow winners of this tightly fought London derby.

The first half saw both sides show a lot of endeavour, without much end product.

West Ham's best effort saw a Andriy Yarmolenko cut back struck sweetly by Robert Snodgrass but pushed aside by Spurs stopper Hugo Lloris.

Then two minutes before half time Spurs struck, with Erik Lamela getting in front of Pablo Zabaleta to guide his header from Moussa Sissoko's cross into the corner of the net.

It would have been two but for Lukasz Fabianski saving from Davinson Sanchez, just yards out.

West Ham had more possession in the second half, with a Marko Arnautovic header forcing Lloris into a save at full stretch early on.

There were further headers from Arnautovic and Issa Diop but to no avail.

The closest the home side came to an equaliser came in the 84th minute when an Arnautovic flick put Chicarito in to score but the goal was ruled off side.

A final Arnautovic effort in injury time was blocked by Lloris.

West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini was happy with the way his team played but disappointed that they did not take their chances. "We've improved a lot in defence, now we need to improve elsewhere,"said Pellegrini, who at least now has what should be some less testing fixtures than the first nine games.

Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino has every right to feel pleased with what is the club's best start to a Premier League season and all that not having signed any new players in the summer. "The players were fantastic," said Pochettino, who felt his side could have had one or two more goals in the first half.

*published - Morning Star - 21/10/2018