Tottenham impress at The Amex
Tottenham chief Antonio Conte challenged his players to help deliver Champions League qualification, starting with a trip to Brighton last midweek. In a show of faith, the Italian named the same starting XI that began Spurs’ defeat at Manchester United and his team responded with a deserved and dominant 2-0 triumph away at The Amex.
Harry Kane’s seven seventh goal in six games sealed the success, but by the time the England captain had driven a low effort past Robert Sanchez, Tottenham were well in control. Cristian Romero had earlier put the visitors in front, deflecting in Dejan Kulusevski’s shot past the helpless Brighton goalkeeper, as the capital club kept the Seagulls at bay.
Speaking post-match, Conte said: “I’m very pleased for a good performance because we got three points. In this final part of the season, it becomes vital to win games. In my opinion, we are playing very well, we’re improving with the ball and here also, we showed the solidity defensively and we created many chances to improve the final result.”
West Ham oust Sevilla
David Moyes described West Ham‘s two-legged Europa League victory over Sevilla as an “incredible result” as the Hammers battled back from a 1-0 first leg deficit to win the tie 2-1 after extra-time. Andriy Yarmolenko scored an emotional winner, converting a rebound from Pablo Fornals’ shot to secure the Irons’ first European quarter-final since 1981.
Tomas Soucek had pulled West Ham level in the first-half when he guided Michail Antonio’s cross into the far corner. And while the Hammers controlled much of the second leg at the London Stadium, they could not find the decisive second goal in regulation time; Yarmolenko’s decisive strike arrived eight minutes from time and sparked jubilant scenes.
Speaking post-match, Moyes said: “This will be as high as we’ve had. We’ve had other nights. Avoiding relegation was an incredible high but thankfully we’ve moved on from that. Beating a serial winner of this competition made it a bit more special. Nights like this really help you build. For us to beat them over two legs is an incredible result and achievement.”
Tottenham have suffered only two home Premier League defeats against West Ham in 19 recent head-to-head meetings (W10-D7-L2), going down in 2013 and 2019. However, Spurs were turned over in the reverse encounter and are now looking to avoid the Hammers completing the league double over them for the first time since 2014.
Tottenham 1.748/11 haven’t completed back-to-back victories since Christmas and have alternated between a win and a loss in each of their last eight outings. Nevertheless, Spurs have shown signs they’re beginning to find their range under Antonio Conte’s watch, particularly in the final-third, scoring twice or more in five of their last six league dates.
West Ham 5.204/1 have stayed in touch with the top-four thanks to their impressive home record. The Hammers though have taken top honours just five times on their travels and head across town having lost all five previous trips to the top-eight, scoring once. The Irons could well be fatigued from Thursday night and have injury doubts over key players.
Harry Kane‘s midweek goal means the England hitman has now scored more goals away from home (95) in the Premier League than any other player – and lifted him above Frank Lampard into fifth, with 178 goals, on the all-time list of Premier League scorers. The in-form striker commands plenty of respect in the Anytime Goalscorer market here.
The 28-year-old is available at 1.834/5 to get on the scoresheet and enhance his fine recent form, and Kane has relished his previous home match-ups with West Ham. The Spurs striker has notched eight goals in six home league meetings with the Irons – making the Hammers his most prolific home opponent in the competition.
With Tottenham improving, West Ham potentially weary from their Europa League excursions and missing key personnel through injury, I’m happy to keep Spurs onside here – we can back Tottenham to win and Harry Kane to score via the Bet Builder at a reasonable 2.407/5, a nice increase on the two odds-on single options.
