ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE West Ham 1 Tottenham 2: TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR'S breathless start to the season has been maintained.
Victory at the expense of bitter rivals across the capital hoisted the visitors back to the top of the Premier League, the delirium among the travelling support all the more intense in the knowledge that their ripostes to overturn a deficit both came courtesy of generous West Ham defending. The Boleyn Ground can never have felt so hospitable.
This is now Spurs’ best start to a top-flight campaign since 1960, when the first 11 league games were won and Tottenham ended up claiming the double. There were too many errors, from both teams here to encourage any thoughts of the current crop conjuring a repeat, but this has been a refreshing beginning nevertheless.
“I wouldn’t even compare ourselves to the ’61 team,” offered Harry Redknapp with a smile. “They had Bill Nicholson as manager, Dave Mackay, John White and Danny Blanchflower . . . an amazing team. If we are anywhere near as good as them, we’ll be okay.”
They are resplendent at present and can thank West Ham for presenting them with this victory. The hosts had created the better chances and taken the most unlikely, Carlton Cole battering in from distance, only to self-destruct and hand the visitors their route back to the pinnacle. Five minutes after propelling his side ahead, Cole broke away from asking for a drink near the halfway line to receive possession, turned and attempted to thread a pass back towards Matthew Upson on the edge of the area. It was an inexplicable choice and merely succeeded in presenting Jermain Defoe with the ball, the England striker duly smashing his sixth goal in 12 days beyond Robert Green.
Cole crumpled, inconsolable, to the turf though his agony was only properly complete when Jonathon Spector’s heavy touch, that of a natural right-back asked to fill in on the left, allowed Aaron Lennon to skip inside and skim the winner across Green, via the goalkeeper’s fingertips, and into the far corner. Tottenham had been tested and emerged with their perfect record intact. At this early stage, a top-four finish remains plausible.
“It could be open this year,” conceded Redknapp. “We only lost one home game last season after I arrived and we’ve won two away games already this year. If our home form stands up, we’ll be right up there. We’ll have a go, home and away. We might get bashed up some weeks because we’re so open, but there’ll be others when we do what we did at Hull [and win 5-1]. I’m not saying we’ll finish in the top four, but we have good quality and we’ll give it a go.”
West Ham did just that here. They departed aggrieved to have endured defeat at a difficult time. Thoughts rarely drifted from Calum Davenport, the hosts’ centre-half and a former Spurs player, who was stabbed in both legs in an incident at his mother’s house over the weekend and remains in a critical yet stable condition in hospital. The club have been encouraged by the latest medical reports, though a sense of shock remains.
Gianfranco Zola described the attack as “terrible”. “The situation will become clearer in the next few days,” he said. “But it’s just important that he’s okay.”
In the circumstances, football seemed rather trivial though the home side could be proud of their efforts to match opponents whose confidence is soaring. Cole, even after his error, unsettled Tottenham’s defence all afternoon and the memory of his swivel and volley to propel West Ham ahead will live long in the memory.
Yet, for all that Luis Jimenez was denied on the goalline by Luka Modric and Ledley King smothered from Jack Collison. Dean Ashton remains a long-term absentee and Cole needs support, though Zola will most likely have to sell James Collins to Stoke or Aston Villa for €5.7 million before he can hope to complete the €8 million signing of Marouane Chamakh from Bordeaux.
The Italian appeared to be pleading for the club’s hierarchy to find the necessary funds after this defeat. “I’m relying on the club,” said Zola. “This club could do very well. If we had a little bit more, we might be challenging for really important positions. I hope and believe all of West Ham realise this and can give us something.”
Guardian Service
