Spurs crush sorry Hammers : Talking points from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

The Details:

Spurs (1) 4 Kulusevski 36, Bissouma 52, Areola OG 55, Son 60

Hammers (1) 1 Kudus 18 Kudus s/o 86

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What happened: Spurs started brightly and fell behind against the run of play to a goal from Mo Kudus but rallied superbly to deservedly claim all three points. Dejan Kulusevski levelled before the break, and three goals in eight minutes at the start of the second half settled it. Yves Bissouma netted before Hammers' Nice loanee Jean-Clair Todibo and Alphonse Areola combined to score an own goal. Then Heung-Min Son made it four before missing a sitter that he thumped against a post. West Ham's dreadful lunchtime was complete when Kudus was sent off for pushing Micky Van de Ven and Pape Sarr in the face during a melee.

The bigger picture: Spurs needed this one after that humbling 3-2 defeat at Brighton before the international break where they threw away a two goal lead. They had won five in a row before then and are back to looking upwardly mobile ahead of the visit of Alkmaar on Thursday. For Julen Lopetegui, it was another very worrying afternoon - and they have already had too many of those for comfort this season. It's now one win in seven and the pressure is mounting on the Spaniard, even if this was actually a first away defeat of the season in the league.

The key Moments: Kudus put away a cross from Jarrod Bowen after the striker had got around Destiny Udogie. The warning of that combination came earlier when Guglielmo Vicario had to turn over a Kudus piledriver in the Hammers' first attack - Bowen the provider. But the hosts produced a glut of chances throughout. Brennan Johnson almost headed home and Pedro Porro forced a save out of Alphonse Areola with a powerful low shot and had another spectacular volley that flew just over. Son curled just wide in an opening attack. The near misses turned into goals as the conversion rate improved after the break.

Who were the star players: James Maddison was excellent going forward for Spurs before half time but Ange decided to replace him with Pape Sarr to made Spurs more solid defensively. Kulusevski, Porro, Udogie, and Son caused untold problems with their pace and desire to get into dangerous positions. For the Hammers, Kudus and Bowen were excellent in the opening 30 minutes, but just like the team, they faded and died. And Kudus of course blotted his copybook by seeing red five minutes from time to cap a dreadful second half for the east Londoners.

That special rivalry: This defeat will sting Hammers fans, who view this particular London derby as more significant than Spurs fans do. The South Bank faithful are way more concerned about results against Arsenal. Even so, they will have enjoyed the visitors' obvious discomfort. The away end deserted in droves long before the end to escape the gloating. Spurs now lead 71-54 in head to heads against the Irons.

Read a full match report from Charlie Stong HERE