West Ham United’s Michail Antonio celebrates scoring their first goal with teammates during their Premier League match against Tottenham Hotspur at the London Stadium, London October 24, 2021. — Action Images/Paul Childs pic via Reuters
LONDON, Oct 24 — West Ham moved into fourth place in the Premier League with a 1-0 win in the London derby against Tottenham, while Manchester United and Liverpool prepared for the latest instalment of their bitter rivalry today.
A second half strike from Michail Antonio gave the Hammers their second successive league win and condemned Tottenham to a second consecutive loss this week.
Beaten by Vitesse Arnhem in the Europa Conference League on Thursday, Tottenham once again failed to produce a cohesive display as West Ham climbed above them in the table.
Pablo Fornals’ acrobatic effort forced a fine save from Tottenham keeper Hugo Lloris in the early stages at the London Stadium.
Lucas Moura was inches away from putting Tottenham ahead when he turned to fire just wide, while Son Heung-min’s penetrating run ended with a shot straight at Lukasz Fabianski.
Tomas Soucek is deadly in the air but for once the West Ham midfielder was unable to hit the target as he headed Fornals’ cross narrowly wide at the far post.
Tanguy Ndombele headed too close to Fabianski and Harry Kane was denied when the Pole pushed over his header on the stroke of half-time.
Lloris had to make a brilliant save when Fornals’ effort took a deflection off Eric Dier.
But West Ham finally made the breakthrough in the 72nd minute as Antonio evaded Kane and poked home from Aaron Cresswell’s corner, making it 10 goals in 10 games against Tottenham for the striker.
Blockbuster clash
In today’s other match, Leicester won 2-1 at Brentford to extend their unbeaten league run to four games.
Brentford made a lively start and Ivan Toney had a goal disallowed for offside by VAR.
Bryan Mbuemo should have opened the scoring when he was played through on goal by Norgaard but the forward pulled his shot wide.
It was Leicester who took the lead when the ball dropped to Youri Tielemans 25 yards from goal and the Belgian midfielder unleashed a ferocious blast into the top corner in the 14th minute.
Mathias Jorgensen rose above two markers to head Brentford’s equaliser past Kasper Schmeichel from a near-post corner in the 60th minute.
James Maddison had the perfect response to his critics after a troubled spell as the Leicester midfielder netted in the 73rd minute, tapping into an empty from Patson Daka’s pass for his first goal since February.
At Old Trafford, the shoot-out between United striker Cristiano Ronaldo and Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah is set to be the headline act of a blockbuster clash.
Third-placed Liverpool can climb above Manchester City into second if they beat United.
Without a win in their last three league games, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side need a victory over their old foes to close the four-point gap between them.
That will be no easy task against a Liverpool side unbeaten in their last 21 matches in all competitions.
Jurgen Klopp’s side have scored at least three goals in seven successive away games in all competitions.
They boast arguably the world’s most in-form player in Egypt star Salah, who has 12 goals in 11 appearances this season. — AFP