West Ham United 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Premier League, London Stadium, Tuesday 2 April 2024, 8.15pm BST
Jarrod Bowen’s sensational season continued as his assist for Kurt Zouma helped West Ham United secure a 1-1 Premier League draw with Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday evening.
The England international’s corner, which Zouma converted to cancel out Brennan Johnson’s early opener, was his 28th direct goal involvement of the campaign in all competitions, and 20th in the Premier League.
Bowen’s ninth assist, to go along with 19 goals, took him ahead of the 27 managed by Dimitri Payet in league and cup 2015/16. He now has at least nine more matches to break John Hartson’s Premier League era record of 34 – 24 goals and ten assists – set in 1997/98.
After conceding three late goals to lose 4-3 at Newcastle United on Saturday, David Moyes would have feared the worst when his side conceded to Johnson within five minutes, but the Hammers showed admirable resolve to take a share of the spoils.
The first half was played in driving rain, which made for a quick, sharp game on a slick, fast playing surface at London Stadium.
West Ham should have led inside four minutes, but Bowen was distracted by Michail Antonio’s run and could only shin Mohammed Kudus’s cross wide. Within 60 seconds, Spurs were in front instead when Timo Werner went outside Vladimír Coufal and centred low for Johnson to convert from six yards.
The Hammers were rocked, and had a couple of escapes in quick succession, first when Pedro Porro drove a low shot wide, then when Son Heung-min curled close enough for Łukasz Fabiański to dive and catch.
Having avoided conceding a potentially fatal second, West Ham breathed new life into the game by equalising on 19 minutes. The irresistible Bowen won a corner, took it himself and Zouma lost his marker and converted past Guiglielmo Vicario with his upper back!
Back on level terms, the Irons were in the ascendancy and went close twice themselves. Bowen’s shot was blocked by Destiny Udogie, before the England international won a free-kick which James Ward-Prowse curled goalwards and saw clawed to safety by Vicario.
Spurs finished the half strongly, winning a succession of corners, the last of which led to Rodrigo Bentancur shooting well wide, and the teams headed down the tunnel on level terms.
The weather might have dried up by the start of the second half, but the chances kept flowing at both ends.
Antonio’s well-struck shot was parried by Vicario and Lucas Paquetá curled wide and then over at one end, before Coufal blocked from James Maddison and Yves Bissouma shot past the post at the other.
Then, on the hour-mark, Antonio missed a huge chance to give his team the lead, racing onto Ward-Prowse’s long ball, outmuscling Micky van de Ven, but shooting too close to Vicario with just the Italian to beat.
The game then went into an extended lull as West Ham sat in their trademark low block and Tottenham tried in vain to play their way through it. Spurs finally mustered another shot on 88 minutes, but substitute Pape Matar Sarr’s low effort dribbled well off-target.
Then, in added time, both teams had one final chance, but Udogie shot straight at Fabiański and Bowen’s cross floated agonisingly over both Vicario and Antonio to safety, and that was that.
West Ham United: Fabiański, Coufal, Mavropanos, Zouma ©, Emerson, Ward-Prowse, Souček, Paquetá, Kudus, Bowen, Antonio
Subs not used: Anang (GK), Johnson, Cresswell, Ogbonna, Phillips, Earthy, Cornet, Ings, Mubama
Goal: Zouma 19
Booked: Antonio
Tottenham Hotspur: Vicario, Porro, Romero, Van der Ven, Udogie, Bissouma (Højbjerg 82), Bentancur (Sarr 70), Johnson (Lo Celso 90), Maddison (Kulusevski 70), Son ©, Werner (Richarlison 82)
Subs not used: Austin (GK), Drăgușin, Davies, Emerson Royal
Goal: Johnson 5
Booked: Van de Ven, Bentancur, Johnson, Romero
Referee: John Brooks
Attendance: 62,469
