Antonio’s verdict on West Ham: “We had the game under control”

Antonio Conte felt we deserved the win after another end-to-end encounter against West Ham ended 1-1 at London Stadium on Wednesday night.

Denied an early penalty by a VAR call, we took the lead on 34 minutes when Thilo Kehrer got to Harry Kane’s cross ahead of Heung-Min Son and denied Sonny a tap in by turning the ball into his own net.

However, a momentary lapse from a throw-in allowed Tomas Soucek to level for the home side on 55 minutes. That prompted West Ham’s best spell, which we weathered and then created chances to win ourselves. The Hammers then struck back again and had two late chances to snatch victory.

It stayed 1-1 as we made it five games unbeaten at the start of this Premier League campaign.

Speaking to SPURSPLAY pitchside, Antonio told us: “For the game, for the situation we created, maybe there is a bit of disappointment about the final result.

“We scored, we had the game under control, then we conceded a stupid goal, honestly. I believe the team was really good to defend set pieces, corners and throw-ins because we worked a lot on this aspect, we knew well the capacity of West Ham to exploit this situation.

“Also, the players know very well, and I love to repeat, always, that at the high level, the details move the final result. You can defend well for 95 minutes but in 30 seconds, if you don’t pay attention, then the opponent punishes you, and that happened tonight.

“It’s a pity because at the end, we deserved the three points. At the same time, in the last minutes, we risked losing the game. It would be incredible to lose this game.”

Antonio has often said how important it is not to lose in these situations - as we did here last season. He added: “I think the team is improving, learning to cope with these types of situations, the atmosphere at this stadium... last season, we lost here 1-0. Now, today, we go home disappointed because I think we lost two points. We are taking a step forward, but we have to know that we have to pay attention in every detail because, I repeat, the details move the final result.”