Two for Kane as Tottenham win at West Ham
West Ham 2 Tottenham 3
Two deliciously executed first-half strikes from Harry Kane in a four-minute spell set Tottenham on their way to a thrilling derby win at the London Stadium, where Serge Aurier was sent off.
Spurs are still waiting for their first Premier League win at Wembley but this result continued their excellent away form – the victory was their fifth in a row on the road in the league.
Christian Eriksen added a third on the hour to apparently put the game to bed, but after allowing Javier Hernandez to pull a goal back, Tottenham played the last 20 minutes with 10 men when Aurier picked up two yellow cards in five minutes – the second for a pointless foul on Andy Carroll on the halfway line.
That made for an uncomfortable finale for the visitors, especially after Chiek Kouyate made it 3-2 with three minutes remaining.
Kane sent a glancing near-post header past Joe Hart on 34 minutes to open the scoring, after the ever-impressive Eriksen had picked out Dele Alli on the right flank, who sent in a decisive cross.
And in virtually the next attack, great work from Jan Vertonghen and Eriksen down the left flank opened up the Hammers defence again, and although Hart managed to block an Alli effort, Kane was on hand for a simple tap-in.
The on-fire Kane went close to his hat-trick with a curling effort just wide of the far post as the half ended against a backdrop of disgruntled home fans sloping off early for half-time comforts.
The England striker came even closer to his treble with a curling free-kick against on the post on 60 minutes, but in the follow-up, Eriksen swept a charged-down cross into the bottom corner to make it 3-0.
Hernandez nodded in after a corner had been flicked on by Jose Fonte at the near post after 64 minutes, and the hosts believed they could stage a great fightback when Aurier was sent packing soon after.
And when Kouyate powered in a header after a great cross from sub Arthur Masuaku, the stadium came alive. But there were no more real alarms.
Recent visits to their bitter east London rivals have proved utterly deflating for Spurs, with successive defeats effectively torpedoing title challenges.
But even with the hosts showing signs of the sort of fight expected of them by home fans brought up on a great historical antipathy towards their north London rivals, Spurs were largely dominant until the final stages.
Tottenham: Lloris; Aurier, Alderweireld, Sanchez, Vertonghen; Eriksen (Winks 75) Dier, Sissoko (Trippier 78), Davies; Alli, Kane (Llorente 89).
Subs not used: Vorm, Son, N’Koudou, Walker-Peters.
