Late stunner sees points shared with Hammers - report and debrief

An excellent first-half display went unrewarded against West Ham United on Sunday afternoon as we threw away a 3-0 half-time lead to draw 3-3 with the Hammers at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

We blitzed the visitors with three goals in the opening 16 minutes from Heung-Min Son and a Harry Kane double and were in control of the game until the 82nd minute, when West Ham hit us with three goals of their own to force the most unlikely of draws.

We made the perfect start, taking the lead after just 46 seconds. Kane picked up the ball midway inside our own half and pinged a cross-field pass to Son who broke away down the left flank, collected the ball and cut inside Fabian Balbuena before curling right-footed past Lukasz Fabianski. And it was 2-0 eight minutes later as we doubled our advantage. Another swift attack looked to have broken down but we recycled the ball at the back post and went again, Son finding Kane this time and the England man nutmegged Declan Rice on the edge of the area before drilling a shot through Angelo Ogbonna’s legs and into the back of the net.

The visitors were seeing plenty of the ball but we were clinical in possession and opened them up again with a wonderful move on 16 minutes, which flowed through Moussa Sissoko, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Son as the ball was worked out wide to Sergio Reguilon, whose superb first-time cross was met with a powerful header by Kane.

Apart from Pablo Fornals heading over from six yards out early in the second half, we were always in control of the contest until the closing stages. With eight minutes left, Aaron Cresswell delivered an out-swinging free-kick from wide on the left which Balbuena headed past Hugo Lloris and three minutes later the Hammers were back in the game, Davinson Sanchez diverting Vladimir Coufal’s low cross into his own net from close range.

We almost wrapped up the points when substitute Gareth Bale - making his return after re-joining us on loan from Real Madrid - weaved his way into the box and onto his left foot but fired wide with just Fabianski to beat, before West Ham levelled with virtually the last kick of the game. Another free-kick was headed clear by Kane, Harry Winks helped the ball away but it fell to Manuel Lanzini who cracked in a 25-yard drive which Lloris got a hand to but couldn’t prevent from going in.

Deadly duo strike again

Much of the talk at half-time was about the impressive partnership between Son and Kane, which continues to provide goals.

The two forwards combined for our opening two goals against the Hammers, setting each other up as we raced into a 2-0 lead inside eight minutes. It was 28th time both players had been involved in Premier League goals, overtaking the tally reached by the former Spurs combo of Darren Anderton and Teddy Sheringham, while only three duos have been involved in more goals.

Kane then added our third to make it 12 goal involvements in just five Premier League matches this season – the best record in the league’s history.

The England striker could have had a hat-trick too, clipping the outside of the post in the 79th minute with a left-footed curler which would have wrapped up the points.

Meanwhile Bale entered the fray from the bench in the 72nd minute – some 2,709 days after his last appearance for us on 19 May, 2013. He immediately stepped up to take a 30-yard free-kick but his deflected strike was easy for Fabianski. And when he worked his way into the area with the score at 3-2, it looked certain he would mark his second debut with a goal but he poked wide.

Jose Mourinho made two changes from the win at Manchester United last time out, with Toby Alderweireld and Steven Bergwijn coming in for Eric Dier and Erik Lamela, both of whom missed out through injury. Bale was in our matchday squad for the first time since his return on loan from Real Madrid and he was joined on the bench by new striker Carlos Vinicius, signed on loan from Benfica, although he remained unused on the day.

Reaction on Spurs TV

'Difficult to believe, but real'

Jose conceded it was a tough one to take. “Sometimes football is difficult to explain,” he said. “We can say we are in trouble to defend two lateral free-kicks, we can go to the unlucky side of it, last second, incredible shot, incredible goal. It’s a little out of context.

“In the second half we didn’t score, but we could have. We had better chances than them, I believe, because a beauty of Harry’s shot hit the post, then another beauty from Gareth, so we were close to scoring a fourth goal and killing the game, but that’s football, and you have to be strong to cope with games like this.

“This is the Premier League, this is the power of every team, the belief every team has, and we lost two incredible points.

“That’s three matches at home and two draws that could perfectly be two victories, and it’s a big punishment because we look to the table and it’s difficult to believe after scoring so many goals and playing so well that we only have eight points.”

Match data

Goals: Spurs – Son 1, Kane 8, 16; West Ham – Balbuena 82, Sanchez (OG) 85, Lanzini 90+4.

Yellow cards: West Ham – Antonio, Ogbonna, Soucek, Masuaku, Lanzini.

Referee: Paul Tierney.

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Weather: Light cloud, light winds, 13 degrees.