Hammers party, but Spurs won’t give up on title yet
Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino refused to concede the Premier League title despite last night’s 1-0 defeat at West Ham.
Manuel Lanzini’s secondhalf strike gave the delirious Hammers a memorable 1-0 victory over their big London rivals, in a match Spurs needed to win to keep the pressure on leaders Chelsea.
Spurs will slip seven points adrift, with only three games to play, if Chelsea beat Middlesbrough on Monday.
Lanzini’s 65th-minute strike did the damage as West Ham ensured they are safe from relegation.
“We’re still fighting. We are disappointed with the result. We need to wait now for the Chelsea result and we still have three games to go,” Pochettino said.
“It is more difficult to try to catch Chelsea but we need to try to the end. Always.
“We started the second half a little bit sloppy and we conceded a lot of space.
“When you are fighting for the title you need to try not to concede this type of goal. And then it was so difficult, they play so deep with 5-4-1. It was difficult to find space. And, yes, a little bit unlucky. We didn’t deserve to lose.
“It wasn’t the same performance we played last week and all the players are disappointed about that.
“At the moment it is so disappointing and so difficult to say it has been a very good season. It’s the second season we are fighting for the Premier League.”
Delighted Hammers boss Slaven Bilic said: “We deserved to win. We had a game plan and we had a pattern. It was a great team display.
“We had character and determination, but to beat Spurs you need more. And we had that. We had great quality.
“A Friday night, against ‘them’, under the lights; you can’t beat that feeling when you win.
“It’s up there with our best (displays this season).”
Matchwinner Lanzini revelled in his third goal in four derbies against Spurs and enthused: “It was amazing! It’s very important for us, so I’m so pleased to score such a goal like this.
“I like playing against Tottenham and scoring against them.
“More important for me is not the goal though, it’s that the team played very well.
“Tottenham are one of the best teams in the Premier League and to win is very important for us and for us to keep going.”
The win took Bilic’s men into 10th place, with 42 points on the board.
“It was a very good win,” added Lanzini. “It’s a great win for the manager who is a great coach, and he talked with us a great deal before the game. He is amazing.”
The vital goal came on 65 minutes, sending the home supporters wild.
Spurs failed to deal with an Aaron Cresswell cross and Sam Byram and Andre Ayew helped the ball on until it rolled to the feet of Lanzini, who slammed it past Hugo Lloris from six yards out.