Tottenham cruised to a commanding 3-0 victory over West Ham at the London Stadium, a win forged from set-pieces and sealed once the hosts were reduced to 10 men. Pape Matar Sarr headed the breakthrough just after half-time. Tomáš Souček was sent off soon after for a studs-up lunge that ripped João Palhinha’s sock, and Lucas Bergvall and Micky van de Ven completed the scoring as the visitors took full control.
It was a sobering evening for Graham Potter and West Ham, who are winless in seven Premier League home matches and sit 18th. For Thomas Frank's Tottenham, this professional, composed display arrived in the club's first game of the post-Daniel Levy era and lifted them to second in the table, level on points with the leaders.
Set-pieces and small margins swing a tight derby
Before the interval, there was little to separate the sides. Spurs thought they had struck from a corner when Cristian Romero powered in a header, only for referee Jarred Gillett to rule it out for a push by Van de Ven on Kyle Walker-Peters. The incident foreshadowed what was to come: Tottenham’s superiority on dead balls, West Ham’s uncertainty in defending them.