Premier League: Antonio goal helps Hammers beat Spurs 1-0

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Premier League: Antonio goal helps Hammers beat Spurs 1-0. (Credit: Twitter/ @premierleague)

London, (Asian independent) Michail Antonio scored the lone goal as West Ham United defeated Tottenham Hotspur their second successive defeat of the week as they moved to the fourth position in the Premier League standings on Sunday. On Thursday, the Spurs had lost to Dutch club SBV SBV Vitesse 1-0 in the Europa League.

Antonio, the England-born Jamaica international, reacted quickly to flicked home Aaron Cresswe’l’s corner, just 18 minutes from time, the poach’r’s finish sealing a win for the Hammers in a game in which the Spurs dominated for long periods but could not find the back of the goal.

Antonio — who had trials at Tottenham when he was 14 — had most of the chances, troubling the Spurs defence on more than one occasion. Cristian Romero had a particularly difficult match with the 31-year-old, often left second best on their one-on-ones.

It was 72 minutes into the game, though, before Antonio found the breakthrough from a corner. Aaron Cresswell sent the ball into the box and Antonio flicked it into the net at the near post.

Tottenham manager Nuno Espírito Santo was very disappointed with the result and his team had a good chance of winning the match. “We’re disappointed like everyone, like our fans. It’s always tough to lose a match like this,” he said after the match.

Though Tottenham were the better team on the pitch for most of the match, their defence has been suspect in the last many games and it fell under pressure as West Ham slowly got into the game and created their opportunities in the second half. It was the 10th game in succession that the Spurs failed to keep a clean sheet in all matches.

In other matches in the Premier League, James Maddison scored the winner in the 73rd minute as Leicester City defeated Brentford 2-1 on Sunday. Brentford looked at a high as Mathias Jorgensen scored at the hour mark to cancel out Youri Tielemans’s 14th-minute goal for Leicester.