A goal by Michail Antonio ensured West Ham United became the first visiting team to win at Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium as Mauricio Pochettino’s third-placed side missed the chance to effectively secure a Premier League top-four place on Saturday, Reuters reports.
The 1-0 defeat further confused the position behind soaraway frontrunners Liverpool and Manchester City, neither of whom played on Saturday, with Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United also chasing the final two Champions League spots.
Spurs, who had not even conceded a goal in their first four games back home, were looking for a boost ahead of their Champions League semi-final against Ajax Amsterdam. However, they failed to impress against a West Ham side who had taken just one point from their previous eight away league games.
Pochettino said the best way to now approach Tuesday — and one of the most important games in the club’s history — was simply to forget about Saturday’s setback.
“We have to forget about it, move on and think about Tuesday,” he said.
Antonio’s goal owed much to Marko Arnautovic whose dinked through ball allowed his partner a fraction of space to take the ball down on his chest and strike it firmly past Hugo Lloris. The defeat was Spurs’ first in the league at their home ground since May 2016 when Southampton were the winners.
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