The North London derby went to Tottenham. Photo: Getty.
Tottenham did not fail in its opportunity to storm fourth place in the Premier League and comfortably beat West Ham (2-0), very gray and surpassed with goals from Emerson Royal and Heung-son Min, who claimed responsibility after start the clash between the substitutes in favor of Richarlison.
Tottenham’s irregular season, fifth before the start of their game after losing last day against Leicester, he needed a breather in the North London derby.
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Beforehand, He suffered a shock with the absence of his coach, Antonio Conte, who underwent surgery for a gallbladder. His replacement, Cristian Stellini, took a risk with a decision agreed with his boss: he put Heung-min Son on the bench and brought on Richarlison, a substitute since he returned from the World Cup in Qatar.
The move was risky, although it is true that Heung-min Son is not in a good moment. The Korean is far from the 24 goals he scored last season. He accumulates eight and it seems that he will not even come close to that number. He was not a substitute since last November 1, when he watched from the bench the match that his team won 1-2 against Marseille in the Champions League.
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But Tottenham was not for individualitiesAlthough he did have one to celebrate, because Harry Kane was honored before the match for becoming the ‘Spurs’ all-time top scorer after beating Jimmy Graves with his 267th goal. The striker collected a commemorative boot while in an impressive tifo it wore his name on one of the funds of the Tottenham Hostpur Stadium
Opposite, the West Ham, in need of points to leave the relegation places, was going to sell defeat dearly. Without much effort, they endured a gray first half on both sides, unable to generate anything except two attempts on the buzzer by Richarlison and Clement Lenglet. One ended up stopped by Luskasz Fabianski and the other, a header from the Frenchman, went over the crossbar.
The tedium lasted as long as it took Lenglet, Ben Davies and Emerson Roayl to connect. At minute 56, the Tottenham crowd celebrated a good goal by the Brazilian based on two perfect passes. The first, by Lenglet on Davies, who broke all of West Ham’s lines, and the second by Davies on Emerson Royal, who only had to finish off well on goal to open the scoring.
Then, Stellini wanted to give love to Heung-min son and removed Richarlison from the pitch, who was not very successful. The Korean responded immediately, four minutes after stepping on the pitch, after taking advantage of an assist from Kane to seal the match.
His goal closed a clash without much history. West Ham, at no time had a chance to win the North London derby and succumbed to the effectiveness of Tottenhamwho with greater dominance and punch added three points with which reached the Champions League positions. They beat Newcastle, with one game less, defeated this day by Liverpool (0-2) and which is only one point below. The fight is served.
