Mourinho warning was spark for team’s revival

Jose Mourinho told his players at half-time last night that their hopes of reaching next season’s Champions League would be over if they did not find a way to take three points off West Ham United.

Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspur side were struggling to create chances against the visitors and went into the break with the score at 0-0, before a controversial second-half own goal from Tomas Soucek and a late strike from Harry Kane gave them the victory.

The win moved Tottenham up to seventh in the Premier League and within one point of fifth-placed Manchester United.

“I told the guys, if we do not win this game, forget the Champions League,” Mourinho said. “If we want to still fight for the Champions League, this game was win or win. I told the players it was three points or nothing.”

Eric Dier, the Tottenham defender, also admitted that the Champions League might have been “too far” for the club if they had not taken all three points.

Tottenham’s hopes of reaching Europe’s premier competition will be boosted by Kane’s return to goalscoring form. The England captain, who claimed he is as fit as he has been, said: “When you have been out for over six months, it’s getting the feeling back on the pitch.

“You can train as much as you want, but being out here is totally different.

“I am in good shape, I have been working very hard all through my rehab and through lockdown and in the warm-up games.

“It has been a good chance to rest and recover and work on a few things I have not been able to over the years.”

The opener, which came when Soucek inadvertently put the ball into his own net from a Tottenham corner, was allowed to stand despite the ball taking a slight deflection off the arm of Tottenham’s Davinson Sanchez.

“I cannot believe that they have ruled that as a goal,” said furious West Ham manager David Moyes, whose side had a winning goal overturned against Sheffield United earlier this season for a similar handball offence.

“I thought the rule was that any handball which leads to a goal is disallowed. We had a great goal ruled out against Sheffield United, and they have not ruled that one out. It’s not very good, eh?

“Those are the rules. I didn’t think it was a particularly good rule. But those are the rules. For them not to give that tonight, I can’t believe it,” he said.

137 Goals scored by Harry Kane in o200 Premier League appearances for Spurs is bettered only by Sergio Aguero (138 in 200 games for Manchester City)