Michail Antonio fired West Ham to a vital London derby win over Tottenham on Sunday.
A feisty atmosphere early on at London Stadium threatened to explode as Hugo Lloris flapped at an early corner, just doing enough to take it away from a Tomas Soucek tap-in.
It was the Hammers who had the better of the earlier play, Pablo Fornals forcing Lloris into more competent action, before Spurs got a foot on the ball and quite effectively killed the atmosphere with long spells of possession.
There was still threat about the visitors, Son Heung-min drilling a low effort at Lukasz Fabianski and the Pole denying Harry Kane’s close-range header. Although, like the Fornals effort, all were relatively easy dealings for goalkeepers of this level.
Tottenham started the second period brighter but, still, Fabianski was never called into proper action and West Ham made the breakthrough with 72 minutes on the clock.
Sergio Reguilon needlessly gave the ball away on his 18-yard line and desperate defending put a Fornals effort out for a corner. Aaron Cresswell’s delivery was on the money for Antonio to steer home and break the deadlock.
