Tottenham are Champions League material
Spurs are unbeaten since the opening day of the season and, with the exception of Leicester City, there is no more impressive or consistent Premier League team just now.
Tottenham last played in the Champions League in the 2010/11 season
Mauricio Pochettino was ruthless during the summer in moving on those players who he deemed surplus to requirements, whatever their experience or reputation, and has duly surrounded himself with a hungry young squad who clearly buy in completely to his demands. It is a team who invariably work tirelessly for one another.
That is the defining characteristic of his players but, in Christian Eriksen, Harry Kane, Mousa Dembele and Dele Alli, there is also enough technical quality to cause problems of any opponent. It is an enticing mix and, while there might just be insufficient goals to actually challenge to win this most open of Premier League title races, they are certainly good enough to return next season to the Champions League.
Kane has Vardy looking over his shoulder
Even when he was not scoring at the start of the season, it was always obvious that suggestions of Harry Kane being some sort of one-season wonder were utterly misguided.
His performances never dipped, his fitness and confidence did not waver and it was clearly a case of if rather than when he would pick up his prolific goalscoring sequence of last season.
Spurs attacking stats
He has now scored in four consecutive Premier League games and has a total of six in those matches. Yes, there are still some missed chances thrown in – there was one horribly scuffed first-half effort here – but the bottom line is that Roy Hodgson is currently in the happy position of having the two most in-form Premier League strikers in his England squad.
Vardy has just equalled a Premier League of 10 straight goals but, with the form Spurs are in, it is not inconceivable that Kane might himself go close to that landmark.
Harry Kane puts Spurs in front Photo: REUTERS
Alderweireld was a superb summer signing
There were some extraordinary transfer fees being exchanged across Europe this summer but it is difficult to think of a deal that has represented much better value for money than the £11.5 million that Tottenham spent on Toby Alderweireld.
Southampton were also keen to make last season’s season-long loan permanent but the surprise was that, despite interest from Chelsea, there was not a more determined effort to recruit Alderweireld from one of the Champions League clubs.
Possession stats
He had, after all, already played in one European Cup final with Atletico Madrid, where he also won La Liga in 2014. He was then arguably Southampton’s player of the year in the Premier League last season when they had the second best defensive record in the country.
He has continued that influence in Spurs’ miserly defence this season and, as he showed here in the first-half, is also a threat in the opposition penalty area.
Dele Alli shows his inexperience
Dele Alli presumably must have known before this match that he was already on four bookings this season and that another yellow card would see him suspended for next week’s crucial match against Chelsea. If so, it was quickly forgotten during a needless exchange of handbags with Mark Noble that will have the indirect consequence of weakening Spurs considerably next Sunday.
Alli was at his breathless best against West Ham
The frustration was that he had no particular business getting involved at all in what was an initial flare-up between Noble and Harry Kane. It was not a huge moment of indiscipline, just a silly, impulsive reaction that he will learn from.
Yet it could still cost Spurs in the short-term. Mauricio Pochettino immediately substituted him, presumably either out of his own frustration at the mistake or for fear that he might get himself sent off if he remained on the same pitch as Noble.
Alli will miss the crucial Chelsea match because of his outburst
Absence of Payet hurts Hammers
West Ham have not only lost their main creative talent in Dimitri Payet but also the man who made their system work. Slaven Bilic’s team have been outstanding at times this season in playing with strong defensive discipline and then pace and craft on the counter-attack but Payet, with his touch and ability to quickly turn defence into attack, was the key.
West Ham desperately missed Dimitri Payet's innovation
Without him here, West Ham struggled when they did get the ball and their attacks quickly broke down. That, in turn, put extra pressure on the defence and ensured that Tottenham themselves had the confidence to attack with more certainty.
The Hammers struggled to make an impact up front
It is hard to legislate for some of the individual mistakes before the goals but West Ham’s lack of a creative threat, coupled with Tottenham’s relentless pressing, put their defenders under particular pressure. Payet cannot return quickly enough.
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