Tottenham Hotspur came out superior of the London derby as Heung-Min Son sealed the win against a lacklustre unchanged Hammers side at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
West Ham scored first through a right footed strike by Mohammed Kudus, leaving them in pole position as they had not dropped points from a winning position yet this season. That would soon come to an end as a thrilling second half saw Tottenham control the game taking all three points.
The majority of the game was controlled by Spurs, with spells where West Ham looked dangerous in the first half. Although, the second half was one way traffic with the game looking like there was only one likely winner.
The travelling side had a couple of missed chances which should have been taken, such as when Kudus has one cleared off the line by Destiny Udogie, with it eventually travelling out for a corner.
It was an unforgettable London derby for the home side, leaving them currently in 6th.
On the other hand, it will be an afternoon for the visitors to forget leaving them in a disappointing 13th place.
Story of the Match
Within the first 15 minutes, the game appeared to be Spurs' with many chanced created, such as Son's right-footed attempt whistling wide leaving Alphonse Areola worried.
Against the run of play, Mohammed Kudus gave West Ham the early advantage after just 18 minutes as the English winger Jarrod Bowen cleverly weaved past Italian full back Destiny Udogie and drilled one across the face of goal to the Ghanaian attacker, who turned the ball past Guglielmo Vicario with a tidy finish on his right foot and scoring his 16th goal for West Ham.
Tottenham then got a grasp of the game with a chance from red hot Brennan Johnson was flicked just wide of the post from an intelligent cross by Udogie as The Lilywhites began to search for an equaliser.
After some superb saves from Areola, Spurs had their breakthrough through Dejan Kulusevski in the 36th minute.
West Ham were caught on the break with James Maddison carrying the ball from Tottenham's half before slipping through Kulusevski, who sharply cut inside and smashed the ball towards the near post with the Frenchman in goal getting a hand on it, but it was not enough as the ball bounced of both posts before finding the back of the net.
Spurs were now in full flow as shortly before half time Kulusevski beautifully flicked the ball through to the 21-Year old Udogie as he cut the ball back to the Spaniard Pedro Porro with an outrageous Di Canio-esque effort which was rifled just over the bar. The two sides entered half time all-square with all to play for.
There was some concern among the Spurs fan base as Senegalese midfielder Pape Matar Sarr was brought on for James Maddison.
It only took Spurs 7 minutes within the second half to get their second of the afternoon as Son slid the ball through to Udogie with the outside of his boot. The Italian then held the ball up shielding the defenders before playing a pinpoint perfect pass to Yves Bissouma, who calmly passed it into the net, with poor defending from the West Ham players point of view.
Only 3 minutes later, Tottenham stole the ball yet again with Son using the outside of his boot to play the ball to the Swedish star-man who then played it back to the Korean, who placed a rather poor shot at Areola who spilled it to Jean Claire Todibo, who poked it back into the goalkeeper in which it eventually found its way into the Hammers net. A rather unfortunate moment for the French defensive duo.
From this point onwards it was Tottenham's game with the Lilywhite's running riot in North London.
The super sub Sarr then nicked the ball from the West Ham midfield leaving Tottenham with a very exciting chance as the 22-year-old midfielder played an exceptional defence-cutting pass to the world class winger in Son, who used some tricky play with step overs to fool the £33m Todibo. As he shifted it onto his left and thundered it past the ex-Real Madrid star in goal, who had a frustrating afternoon.
It was nearly a 5-star performance from Tottenham as Dominic Solanke played through a pass, which was intercepted by the Hammers defence, but eventually fell to Son who wrapped the ball with his right foot leaving Areola dismayed as it hit the inside of the post - an inch away from finding the back of the net.
In the 81st minute the Brazilian number 9, Richarlison made just his third appearance of the season after an injury-riddled start, coming on for recent signing Solanke.
Tension had boiled over as in the 82nd minute the Ghanaian goal-scorer, Kudus tripped Tottenham star Micky Van de Ven and then kicked him whilst he was on the ground, leaving the Dutch defender furious, and pushing Kudus.
He retaliated by hitting Van de Ven and Pape Sarr. He was cautioned before VAR intervened and made it a straight red capping off a disappointing afternoon for his side.
Player of the Match - Dejan Kulusevski