Tottenham 3-1 West Ham (Zouma and 9 ′, Son 24 ′, 88 ′; Benrahma 35 ′)
Tottenham head coach Antonio Conte says his side’s only goal is to qualify for the Champions League following a vital victory over West Ham.
Kurt Zouma’s early own goal followed by a Son Heung-min brace earned Spurs the London Derby to bring them to fifth, three points behind Arsenal.
The Gunners have a game in hand but still need to visit their North London rivals in a game that looks more and more like a shot to be the top four.
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Player ratings
Tottenham:
- Lloris – 6
- Doherty – 7
- Romero – 8
- Animal – 7
- Davis – 6
- Reguilon – 5
- Hojbjerg – 7
- Bentancur – 7
- Young – 9
- Kulusevski – 7
- May – 8
Substitute:
- Royal – N / A
- Moura – N / A
- Bergwijn – N / A
West Ham:
- Fabianski – 7
- Johnson – 6
- Dawson – 6
- Zouma – 5
- Cresswell – 6
- Masuaku – 6
- Travel – 7
- Souzek – 6
- Lanzini – 5
- Benrahma – 7
- Antonio – 6
Substitute:
- Fornals – 6
- Vlasic – N / A
- Yarmolenko – 5
Conte says that should be the only focus in the last nine games.
“Now in our dressing room, there is only one goal in our head,” Conte said. “I wanted this to happen because it’s right if you want to try to improve the mentality, it’s right to start under pressure and there has to be positive pressure for us.
“For that reason, I wanted to make this goal, the race for fourth place.
“We know very well the difficulty of achieving this goal, but it is right to start because Tottenham must have the ambition to play in the best competition.
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First attack of the game and the first goal! It’s Tottenham 1-0 West Ham. pic.twitter.com/eFucI7XJZg
– Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) March 20, 2022
“I know very well that in England it is not easy, because I always say that at the moment there are four teams that are, in my opinion, very, very top – City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool – but if any of these four teams have a fight, this season it happened with United then we have to try to stay there.
“We know it’s Arsenal who have benefited from the table and they show great stability and then there is West Ham and United but we want to try to fight for that goal.
“The only way to put pressure on Arsenal is to get three points to win.
“There are nine matches to go and for us every match has to be a final and at the moment they certainly have a good advantage, especially since they have been working with the same coach for many years and have a lot of transfer markets. The same coach.
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Saïd Benrahma directs a beautiful volley past Hugo Lloris. pic.twitter.com/T7X1oTGBC5
– Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) March 20, 2022
“Maybe they are more ready than us at the moment, but in five months we have done a fantastic job with these players and now I think we have reduced the gap with a lot of teams in England.”
West Ham’s historic week ended in disappointment, but boss David Moyes was not too disappointed, describing a visit to Tottenham as the worst possible match after 120 minutes of Europa League action on Thursday.
The defeat, which came despite Said Benrahma’s goal in the first half, is a huge blow to their own top four hopes, which Moyes admits are likely to be over.
But he says that should not be the narrative.
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