West Ham shock Tottenham with comeback win

LONDON - Tottenham Hotspur's inability to convert leads into Premier League points returned with a vengeance in a 2-1 home defeat by West Ham United as their winless run extended to five matches on Thursday.

A lacklustre West Ham were completely outplayed in the opening half in which the returning Cristian Romero's header was scant reward for Tottenham's domination.

But West Ham were much improved after the break and Jarrod Bowen's equaliser in the 52nd minute changed the complexion of the derby as Tottenham's early confidence ebbed away.

Tottenham then self-destructed in the 74th minute when Destiny Udogie's under-hit back pass caused chaos and James Ward-Prowse tucked in a rebound after his initial shot rebounded back to him off the post.

West Ham comfortably soaked up some late Tottenham pressure and held on for a victory that moved them within three points of their London rivals.

"We had some unbelievable chances – for us it's another game, like the Aston Villa game and other games earlier this year," Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou told reporters. "I said during the week our attacking play has a long way to go. In general we have a long way to go, and tonight was more evidence of that.

"This isn't about us playing good football, it's about us winning games of football. I set teams up to win games and 1-0 at halftime was not a good performance from us.

"A good performance would have been 3-0 or 4-0 up. It's just not having that conviction in front of goal to finish teams off. As simple as that. Sometimes we can disguise how we're going by playing some nice stuff but like I said from day one, that's not what I'm about. I want to win and that's why I came to this football club and that's the message."

Tottenham remain in fifth place with 27 points but have picked up only one point from their last five games having led 1-0 in all of them. West Ham are ninth with 24 points. REUTERS