Tottenham Hotspur’s top four hopes recieved a fresh blow by London rivals West Ham United as Michail Antonio’s second half strike gave them a 1-0 victory in a crucial Premier League match on Saturday.
Antonio’s goal in the 67th minute, first by any away side in Tottenham’s new home left North London side under pressure to qualify for next year’s champions league.
West Ham’s Fabian Balbuena cleared a Vincent Janssen header off the line in stoppage time to hold on for a vital victory.
FULL-TIME Spurs 0-1 West Ham
Michail Antonio's rifled goal hands the Hammers victory as Spurs drop points at their new stadium for the first time#TOTWHU pic.twitter.com/aaARB6Yxkt
— Premier League (@premierleague) April 27, 2019
This was the fifth match in all competitions for Mauricio Pochettino’s men at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and they had won the previous four without conceding a goal, but that run was ended after 67 minutes in this London derby in superb fashion.
Marko Arnautovic found Antonio with a fantastic ball over the top of the Spurs defence and the Englishman controlled the ball with his chest before firing past Hugo Lloris.
Tottenham, who are still without injury top goal-scorer Harry Kane, started the match with Son Heung-Min in attack as Fernando Llorente was on the bench — while defender Jan Vertonghen was a surprise absentee.
The first 45 minutes saw few chances with West Ham’s Felipe Andersonproducing an impressive, surging run before shooting tamely straight at Lloris. Tottenham saw more of the ball but West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski did not have a save to make in the opening half.