Son shines in East London
Heung-Min Son and Fernando Llorente fired us into the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.
Heung-Min Son and Fernando Llorente fired us into the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup at West Ham on Wednesday night.
Son's first goals of the season were taken clinically to hand us a 2-0 lead at the London Stadium.
As expected, West Ham responded after Manuel Pellegrini brought on the cavalry of Marko Arnautovic and Lucas Perez and when Perez headed home for 2-1 on 70 minutes, Spurs fans would have been excused for thinking back to bad memories of this time last year...
However, the nightmare didn't return this Halloween night as Llorente converted Christian Eriksen's corner five minutes later to burst the home team's bubble.
Wary of playing 48 hours after facing Manchester City in the Premier League, Mauricio Pochettino made 10 changes to the line-up. Davinson Sanchez was the sole survivor - excellent alongside Juan Foyth in central defence - as Serge Aurier, Kyle Walker-Peters, Victor Wanyama, Son and Llorente all returned.
The first and crucial opening goal came on 16 minutes when Dele stepped over Llorente's pass and Son was there to hit a bullet with his left foot into the top corner.
West Ham then had a spell with Michail Antonio close twice - the second blocked well by Foyth - and Paulo Gazzaniga twice reacted well to Chicharito chances.
Gazzaniga was there again to deny Antonio from close range before the second goal on 54 minutes. Dele's pass was misjudged by Arthur Masuaku and Son ran clear towards West Ham's penalty box, veered wide around Adrian and slotted home.
The arrival of Arnautovic and Perez just after Son's second upped the ante for the Hammers and Foyth did brilliantly to slide in and block as Arnautovic broke through.
However, Perez soon nodded home from Robert Snodgrass' corner and you sensed the home fans' belief that a comeback was on - not least after doing just that at 2-0 down at the same stage of the same competition last season.
It wasn't to be this time as Llorente buried Eriksen's corner for 3-1 on 75 minutes. That was that - Arsenal await in the quarter-finals...
Key moment
It could have been either of Son's fine finishes - the first to give us that important advantage, the second for a two-goal cushion - but the key moment goes to Llorente's clinical finish for 3-1. You just sensed the belief in the stadium when West Ham made it 2-1 with 20 minutes remaining but this goal, five minutes later, deflated them and saw us home.
Mauricio's view
Mauricio Pochettino said: "It was a very good performance, I’m very proud because it was so complicated this game and another derby, a derby that in the end we won and it’s important to go into the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup. For a lot of players it was a fantastic opportunity to show their quality, players like Paulo, like Foyth, like Sonny who started to feel the net again."
Reaction on Spurs TV
Match data
Goals: West Ham - Perez 69; Spurs - Son 16, 54, Llorente 75.
Referee: Stuart Attwell.
Venue: London Stadium, Olympic Park, Stratford.
Attendance: 50,270.
Weather: Milder than expected, 10 degrees.