ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
West Ham 2
Tottenham 1
LONDON • Jose Mourinho all but wrote off Tottenham's hopes of Champions League qualification via a top-four finish in the Premier League, after a highly damaging 2-1 defeat by West Ham yesterday.
Goals in each half by Michail Antonio and Manchester United loanee Jesse Lingard handed Spurs, who replied via Lucas Moura, their fifth loss in six league games.
On the other hand, the Hammers sealed their seventh win from nine league games as the hosts overtook fifth-placed Chelsea, who are two points behind on 43, boosting their bid to earn Champions League football for the first time.
After four successive seasons in European football's premier competition, Spurs failed to qualify last season and it looks like a second year out unless they can lift the Europa League trophy.
Hinting his attention had now switched, Tottenham boss Mourinho said yesterday: "Before the game, I was not looking to the table. I was looking to the game, and the objective was to win and when you win, you look to the table to see where you are.
"It is very difficult to think about the top four, the top four, five, six teams are getting points. It will be very, very hard, the Europa League is a great motivation to get a Champions League spot and a trophy at the same time.
"The boys fight and when the team fights, you can believe good things can happen."
Antonio gave West Ham the perfect start when he fired past goalkeeper Hugo Lloris in the fifth minute and when Lingard doubled their lead in the 47th minute after a video assistant referee check for his third goal in four games, it appeared David Moyes' men were in cruise control.
But Moura's header gave Spurs a lifeline and they pressed hard for an equaliser.
Substitute Gareth Bale lashed a shot against the bar, while in added time, Vladimir Coufal's clearance deflected back off Son Heung-min and onto the post.
However, Spurs ultimately could only rue their profligacy - they had 19 goal attempts to four for their opponents - as the Hammers stood strong.
While Mourinho admitted that "we are not in the position in relation to our potential", it is the direct opposite for West Ham, who are punching above their weight.
Some critics had tagged Moyes' side as relegation candidates before the start of the season and no one had pegged them as a viable threat to the established "Big Six".
The Hammers, who ended fifth from bottom last season with 39 points, last made it to the Europa League in 2014-15 and that was via the Premier League Fair Play table.
As such, these are heady times for the club, who have already crossed the 40-point mark, long considered the benchmark for escaping relegation.
Moyes will not get carried away though, saying: "This club badly needs a level where they are not around the bottom...
"We are enjoying it but are also not going to be daft. We will keep calm and hopefully, keep pushing the teams at the top."
REUTERS
