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Tottenham Hotspur‘s inability to convert leads into Premier League points returned with a vengeance in a 2-1 home defeat by West Ham United as their winless run extended to five matches on Thursday.
West Ham were completely outplayed in the opening half in which Cristian Romero marked his return from suspension to head Tottenham into an early lead but goals by Jarrod Bowen and James Ward-Prowse turned the derby on its head in the second half.
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Bowen equalised after 52 minutes after a rebound fell into his path before a Ward-Prowse netted a bizarre winner in the 74th minute following a mistake by Destiny Udogie.
Tottenham have now led 1-0 in five successive games but have taken only one point from the 15 available and they only had themselves to blame as they let West Ham off the hook.
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West Ham, now unbeaten in six games in all competitions, comfortably soaked up some late Tottenham pressure and held on for a victory that moved them within three points of their London rivals.
Tottenham remain in fifth place with 27 points but all their early-season promise is fading away. West Ham are ninth with 24 points.
For all the praise of Tottenham’s eye-catching style since Ange Postecoglou took charge they desperately needed a victory to get their league campaign back on track.
They set about their opponents with relish with an incredible 92% possession in the opening 10 minutes that was played almost entirely inside West Ham’s half.
It was Romero’s red card a month ago against Chelsea which precipitated Tottenham’s slump but the Argentine began to make amends as he met Pedro Porro‘s corner with a header that arced away from Lukasz Fabianski and nestled in the net.
With West Ham strangely passive, the onus was on Tottenham to underline their superiority but they were over-elaborate at times although Fabianski was required to make sharp saves to keep out shots by Giovani Lo Celso and Brennan Johnson.
West Ham’s Lucas Paquetá headed horribly wide when he should have equalised just before half-time and it was a warning that Tottenham failed to heed.
Seven minutes after the break the visitors were level when a Mohammed Kudus shot took a double deflection off two Spurs defenders and fell invitingly at the feet of Bowen who lashed a shot high past Guglielmo Vicario to become only the third Premier League player to score in seven consecutive away games.
It changed the complexion of the game with Tottenham’s fans beginning to have a nagging sense of deja vu.
Tottenham then self-destructed as Udogie’s casual back pass put keeper Vicario in trouble and although he blocked Bowen’s initial effort the ball bounced to Ward-Prowse.
His first effort at an open goal hit the post but it rebounded straight back to him and he made no mistake at the second time of asking to send West Ham’s fans into delirium.