Hart: We gave them a fight for the whole game

Joe Hart

Joe Hart says that once West Ham United cut out the individual errors, they will have the base to push on up the Premier League table over the upcoming weeks.

The Hammers were beaten 3-2 by Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, but started strongly and had arguably the better of the opening half-hour until Harry Kane punished them for two lapses in concentration.

When Christian Eriksen put the visitors 3-0 up on the hour, it looked as though West Ham could be in for a chastening defeat, but they stuck to their task and gave Tottenham a real fright as Chicharito and Cheikhou Kouyate reduced the arrears – positives which Hart says the team must take into next weekend’s meeting with Swansea City.

Spurs are one of the best teams in the league and we’ve given them a fight for the whole game

Joe Hart

He said: “We had two clean sheets going into this one, but it seems that lapses in concentration are killing us. You can isolate nearly every single goal and the frustrating thing is that it’s not necessarily quality that’s beating us, it’s sloppy play and that gets punished.

“I don’t think Spurs will feel they came here and pumped us. They’re one of the best teams in the league and we’ve given them a fight for the whole game.

“Whilst it was 0-0 I felt we were the stronger team. We’ve got to learn from our mistakes and if we learn from it it’s not a problem.

“We’ve got Swansea next week and we need to win it for the importance of the club, we need to win for the manager, and we need to win it to give us a good feeling going into the international break.”