Premier League: Why Winning Derby At West Ham Was Important – Tottenham’s Mourinho
Tottenham Hotspur Head Coach, Jose Mourinho has stressed the importance of his team winning the London derby in the Premier League (PL) on Saturday afternoon at West Ham.
Naijaparry reports that Spurs triumphed 3-2 away from home to hand the former Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester United tactician a valuable victory on his return to coaching. It was Spurs’ first away win of the season. And the result takes them up to sixth on the log – tentatively.
“I really enjoyed our first 60 minutes. The most important thing was to win,” ‘Mou’ told BT Sport.
He added: “I spent some time with Dele (Alli) and we said the best Dele has to come back!”
Son Heung-min opened the scoring in the 36th minute and then set up Lucas Moura to get Mourinho’s men up and running, Harry Kane adding to the scoreline as Spurs climbed to sixth in the table.
Michail Antonio and Angelo Ogbonna netted late consolations but West Ham continue to struggle after a bright start to the season. Manuel Pellegrini’s side have now lost six of their past seven Premier League games.
Kane struck in the third minute of the Mourinho era but the striker had strayed offside from Dele Alli’s pass.
Serge Aurier’s clumsy aerial challenge on Robert Snodgrass in the box went unpunished before Son’s snapshot tested Roberto Jimenez, the goalkeeper equal to the effort.
Roberto was beaten twice before the break, though, Alli’s pass freeing Son to shuffle away from Issa Diop and lash home a powerful left-footed strike.
Son then created the second after fine work on the left touchline by Alli, the forward crossing low for Lucas to get in front of Aaron Cresswell and nudge home from close range.
Lucas dragged a great chance wide after the restart but it was soon 3-0, Aurier given too much room on the right to measure a cross Kane met with a downward header to move into third place on Spurs’ all-time top goalscorers’ list.
Substitute Antonio gave the home fans something to cheer with a fine finish in the 73rd minute to deny Mourinho, who gave Eriksen a brief late cameo, a clean sheet.
And, after an offside Declan Rice was denied by Video Assistant Referee (VAR), West Ham scored a second deep into added time when Ogbonna beat Paulo Gazzaniga with a low shot from a corner, but it was too little, too late for the Hammers.
Watch Mourinho’s post-match interview below:
"I really enjoyed our first 60 minutes. The most important thing was to win." ✅
"I spent some time with Dele in training and we said the best Dele has to come back!"
Jose Mourinho gives his first interview as a winning Spurs boss…
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— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 23, 2019