Spurs left bruised by

Pochettino’s team floored by fierce fight back from 2-0 down that could prove crucial in Bilic job battle

MAURICIO Pochettino said that winning the League Cup is not a “life-changing” feat, but the question for West Ham now is whether winning this fourthround tie against Tottenham Hotspur could be season-changing for the club — and, more pressingly, their manager.

This was the kind of fightback so pronounced and unexpected that it’s hard not to consider whether it could yet prove a turnaround for Slaven Bilic.

Having come back from a desperate 2-0 down at halftime to win 3-2, the Hammers displayed the kind of resolve and recovery that really should have been beyond a team under a manager meant to be a dead man walking.

Before even getting that far, though, it should have been beyond a team that were this bad in the first half and against a Spurs side on this type of form.

Pochettino did put out a strong team even without Harry Kane, and then brought on both Mousa Dembele and Christian Eriksen to try and rescue this match. It didn’t matter by then, because it had already mattered more from West Ham.

You could see it in the way Mark Noble and Andy Carroll went around revving up their team-mates, in how Andre Ayew put the extra yards in to reach the ball for his two goals.

It was all so different to the first half and most of the season so far, and also some way difficult to understand — especially given the very start to the game.

After six minutes West Ham stepped up with the kind of abandon that suggested a side without a proper plan. Inevitably, they lost the ball, and Spurs showed the kind of ruthlessness that has won them so many games.

The thrillingly in-form Heung-Min Son surged forward, easily feeding the oncoming Moussa Sissoko, who was in an embarrassing amount of space to slide it past Adrian.

That very move has become something so common to Spurs’ game and could well have tangible consequences for tougher games — like Saturday at Old Trafford.

It wasn’t long until the score got worse. On 38 minutes, having already forced a brilliant save from Adrian with a header, Dele Alli got his goal.

Son was again involved as he teed the midfielder up on the edge of the box. Alli’s curling shot then deflected off the back of Declan Rice and in.

Some fight did finally return to West Ham in the second half, although in different ways. First there was the wrong kind of fight as Mark Noble got a booking having squared up to Danny Rose. Then there was the right kind of response as West Ham did rally — and score.

On 55 minutes, a corner came out to the edge of the box for Edmilson Fernandes to fire back at goal with a fine rasping shot. Michael Vorm got down to parry it, but only to the feet of Ayew, who hammered it into the net.

Just five minutes after Ayew hit his first, he claimed a second. This was down to the tenacity of substitute Javier Hernandez, but also the sloppiness that seemed to overcome the Spurs defence. The Mexican striker burrowed his way into the box before squaring for Ayew to swerve the ball in.

Then on 71 minutes Ogbonna thundered a header past Vorm to make it 3-2.

Pochettino looked furious, but not frozen. Mousa Dembele was brought on as Sissoko also hammered a shot at goal that Adrian beat away.

It said much that, even with Dembele and Eriksen on, the best Pochettino’s side could offer was Alli going over in the box.

No penalty was given by Mike Dean, just as no quarter had been given by West Ham.

There was a new grit to put them through to the next round.

A new momentum? That’s harder to say, but they had done an admirable job of disrupting Spurs.