West Ham 2-0 Tottenham: Sherwood’s Spurs embarrassed by the Hammers
Tim Sherwood’s hopes of remaining Tottenham manager into next season have been dealt a huge blow after struggling West Ham beat his side 2-0 at Upton Park.
Sam Allardyce’s Hammers were the better team from start to finish in east London as Spurs’ stars put in an inept showing away from home.
Allardyce, 59, has come under-fire from his club’s fans this season but, in truth, his men should have won by more than two goals, such was their dominance.
And, with reports suggesting Frank de Boer is to be approached by Tottenham, the performance put in by Sherwood’s charges could be the final nail in his coffin.
Spurs suffered an early scare when Guy Demel’s looped volley landed on top of the crossbar, while their best chance of the opening exchanges was a header from Paulinho, which was easily dealt with by Adrian.
And their task away from home was made tougher after 23 minutes when Younes Kaboul was given his marching orders by referee Phil Dowd for knocking Stewart Downing, who was through on goal, to the ground just outside the penalty area.
Andy Carroll forced Hugo Lloris into a smart save from the free-kick but the Frenchman could do nothing when the resulting corner found the giant striker, and his header looped in after a flick from the unlucky Harry Kane.
The young forward has impressed recently but soon made way for Vlad Chiriches as Sherwood looked to plug the gap created by Kaboul’s red card.
The substitution couldn’t turn the tide though as Lloris tipped a Matt Taylor volley behind moments later as the Hammers laid siege on the Tottenham goal.
Spurs’ defending has been nothing short of shambolic at times this season and, after giving away another free-kick in a dangerous area, Downing curled his shot between Paulinho and Emmanuel Adebayor, who both, embarrassingly, turned away from the strike, and into the back of the net.
West Ham were nearly three to the good five minutes after the break but Lloris was at his best again to deny a fine overhead kick from Mohamed Diame.
And the magnificent Frenchman, who looks set to leave White Hart Lane in the summer, produced another brilliant stop to deny Kevin Nolan from close range.
Sandro and Roberto Soldado were sent on by Sherwood as he looked to salvage something from the match, but neither looked likely to change the game as both misplaced passes and miscued shots upon their arrival.
The former was booked as he tried his hardest to halt the Hammers and the Brazilian could have earned Spurs a penalty, but referee Dowd turned down his claims after Taylor appeared to handle in the area.
In the end it just wasn’t good enough and with the three points West Ham seal their place in the Premier League for next season.