Tottenham Hotspur 4 West Ham 1 – Relentless Spurs, classic Son and Udogie revival

Tottenham Hotspur scored three goals in eight second-half minutes as they came from behind to beat West Ham United in north London.

Mohammed Kudus, who was later sent off for hitting Micky van de Ven and Pape Matar Sarr, gave the visitors the lead before Dejan Kulusevski equalized.

Then, after half-time, Tottenham sent West Ham into a tailspin when Yves Bissouma scored and the returning Son Heung-min saved a Jean-Clair Todibo own goal.

Jack Pitt-Brooke and Jay Harris summarize the main topics of conversation from a beautiful day in the office of Ange Postecoglou and his team.

Kulusevski opens the floodgates

The final result looked pleasing for Tottenham, but it's worth remembering how nervous the people in the stadium were when the score was still 1-0 against West Ham.

With Spurs struggling to convert possession into chances, it felt like it could have been another one of those frustrating days. What turned the game around and took the pressure off Spurs was Dejan Kulusevski's brilliant goal after 36 minutes.

As Spurs pushed forward, Kulusevski came forward from the right, shot into the far corner and then directed his shot hard at the near post. The ball rolled over Alphonse Areola's hand and both posts.

That was the moment the game changed. Once Spurs scored, you could tell they were going to overwhelm West Ham. The dam had broken. The visitors could no longer maintain their diligent early defence, chasing runners and occupying space between the lines. The Spurs looked like they were scoring every time they got the ball. Halftime was a relief for them.

Kulusevski was key to Tottenham's comeback (Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)

It was important for Spurs that they started the second half with the same intensity, dominating the ball and using dangerous movements.

And they did, scoring three goals in eight minutes early in the second half. In fact, they should have finished the game with a few more goals than they did. When it's the Spurs' turn, they attack unstoppably, one wave after another. All it took was Kulusevski's equalizer to get them going.

Jack Pitt Brooke

The Joy of Vintage Son

When Son Heung-min was sent off with 20 minutes to go and received a standing ovation from the crowd, he seemed proud of his work. He also seemed relieved to be back doing what he does best after a frustrating start to the season.

It was Son's first appearance in three and a half weeks after a hamstring injury, with Timo Werner taking his place on the left. But even before that, it hadn't been a first-class start to the season for Tottenham's talisman.

He scored twice against Everton here on August 24, almost two months ago, but has not scored since. At times it seemed as if age was slowly catching up with him.

But against West Ham, Son showed his best and was unlucky to only score a single goal. As he charged down the right side for Kulusevski's shot, his shot deflected off Todibo and was ruled an own goal.

But then he scored a classic Son goal, a goal only he could have scored, racing onto Sarr's diagonal, sending Todibo the wrong way with a stepover and drilling a low, hard finish past Areola.

It was a reminder of what a unique player he is and how strong he can still be. Spurs will hope there are more days like this.

Jack Pitt Brooke

Udogie gets his swagger back

Destiny Udogie received a lot of unwanted attention following Tottenham's crushing defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion before the international break.

The 21-year-old missed a free kick in the build-up to Yankuba Minteh's goal and was overwhelmed by Georginio Rutter before Danny Welbeck's winner.

It was important that he started strongly against West Ham, but after a few encouraging runs down the left wing his defensive deficiencies were exposed by Jarrod Bowen. The West Ham striker received the ball at the back post and after briefly slipping, he easily turned past Udogie and delivered a cross into the box that Kudus fired into the net.

However, Udogie responded brilliantly and became an important attacking outlet for Spurs. He outpaced Son and sent a cross into the box, but it bounced wide off Brennan Johnson's shoulder. The Italian international then opened up another chance for Pedro Porro, who acrobatically shot the ball over the crossbar.

Udogie holds off West Ham's Bowen (Marc Atkins/Getty Images)

West Ham couldn't contain Son and Udogie, so it was no surprise when they scored Bissouma's goal in the 52nd minute. Son found Udogie in the penalty area and he pirouetted on the ball before passing it back to Bissouma for an easy finish.

Tottenham didn't have much to defend in the second half as they overwhelmed West Ham, but Udogie made a great save on the line to prevent Kudus from scoring a second goal. It was an encouraging overall performance that helped restore the Italian's confidence.

Jay Harris

What did Ange Postecoglou say?

About the performance, Postecoglu said: “It was very good. We had to work pretty hard in the first half, it was a bit of an arm wrestle. They're a strong physical team and you kind of have to keep up with them in certain areas.

“Obviously it's disappointing to concede a goal, but I think we worked our way back into the game, had some good chances towards the end of the first half and were rewarded for that. In the second half we stepped up a gear. I thought our football was excellent. We did some of the difficult things we needed to do to gain control, especially in the midfield area.”

Asked about replacing James Maddison at half-time, Postecoglou said: “I just felt like I said, West Ham asked certain questions in midfield and I felt like Pape's running ability would help us in the second half.” They obviously worked hard to hold us in the first half and I thought he could really energize us. I thought he did really well and in a way that gave us the opportunity to be really threatening every time we went forward and play our football with purpose.”

What's next for Tottenham?

Thursday, October 24th: AZ Alkmaar (H), Europa League, 8:00 p.m. UK, 3:00 p.m. ET