Tottenham picked up their first victory in eight games to leave West Ham with a battle to stay in the Premier League.
Czech midfielder Tomas Soucek inadvertently converted into his own net following Giovani lo Celso’s corner and Harry Kane broke clear to stroke in his 18th goal of the season.
With seven games remaining, the loss leaves the Hammers outside the relegation zone but only on goal difference with Bournemouth, Aston Villa and Norwich – who lie in the bottom three – all now having a game in hand over David Moyes’ side.
The hosts punished toothless West Ham, who threatened little but saw Jarrod Bowen strike a post as they pushed in vain for an equaliser before Kane struck.
Spurs boss Jose Mourinho will be delighted with a victory that takes them just six points off the Champions League places and with Kane’s goal, which was taken with his usual aplomb after he was put clear. It was also a sign of his increasing assurance in only his second match since a hamstring injury on 1 January.
Top four ‘still within reach’ for Spurs
This was not a classic but Mourinho’s 300th victory in English football will have left him very satisfied as they have now picked up four points from two home games against Manchester United and West Ham United.
It was solid if not spectacular and he will have taken particular pleasure in Kane’s superbly taken second goal, after the manager had to answer suggestions from former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson that the striker would not flourish under him.
Spurs still face an uphill struggle to reach the top four but Mourinho will maintain belief and it is still within their reach.
Moyes struggling to inspire
West Ham have had two games since the Premier League resumed and both have produced grim results and performances that simply confirmed they will face a fight to stay up.
This is a sterile side and the question is whether Moyes can summon up the inspiration from somewhere to keep the Hammers up.
West Ham will feel real injustice about the first Spurs goal, which deflected off Davinson Sanchez on to Soucek, which under the current video assistant referee rules should surely have been disallowed. However, it is clear Moyes and his players now have real problems.
‘Who is on VAR? Not very good…’ – what the managers said
Spurs boss Jose Mourinho to Sky Sports: “I am happy with the result, the clean sheet, it means the team is more solid, the players have less doubts. We played against a team with a coach with a lot of experience that organises teams in a very difficult way. I could predict that but they made it difficult for us.
“Our bench was rich, that helped me. To be honest, I don’t think it’s fair for West Ham to come here with 24 hours less to prepare than us. At the moment it is not nice.”
West Ham manager David Moyes to Sky Sports: “I’ve only just seen it [the opening goal] and I can’t believe they’ve ruled that as a goal. Any handball is disallowed? That’s the rule. Who is on VAR tonight? Not very good eh?
“Those are the rules, it’s not a particularly good rule but I can’t believe it. We had a goal disallowed at Sheffield United for the same rule.
“I thought the team worked really hard, we made it difficult for Tottenham, there were a lot of good things I can take from the game but it’s the points we needed.
