West Ham United 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Premier League, London Stadium, Sunday 4 May 2025, 2pm BST
Jarrod Bowen reached double figures in Premier League goals in a season for the third time in his West Ham United career in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur.
However, the captain will take little satisfaction from reaching another personal Claret and Blue landmark as his side’s run without a top-flight win stretched to eight matches.
Against a Spurs team selection based on their UEFA Europa League semi-final second leg at Bodø/Glimt on Thursday, the Irons could not turn that general control of the game into opportunities.
West Ham dominated the ball in the first half, enjoying nigh-on 60% possession, while a much-changed Tottenham played on the counter.
However, both teams created just one shot on target, from which they scored, and two other chances.
After a bright start from the Irons, which saw one three-on-two break come to nothing and penalty appeals waved away when Mohammed Kudus’s cross hit Yves Bissouma on the left arm, the home side fell behind in self-inflicted style.
A long Djed Spence ball down the left was seemingly Maximilian Kilman’s to deal with, but the defender twice cleared into Mathys Tel, who then crossed for the unmarked Wilson Odobert to control and slot past fellow Frenchman Alphonse Areola.
West Ham’s response was to press and the tactic forced Guglielmo Vicario to hurriedly clear as far as Tomáš Souček, who slipped as he shot from 30 yards and the Spurs goalkeeper and stand-in captain was able to recover to collect.
Tel then curled a free-kick into the Bobby Moore Stand before the hosts levelled – and it was a decent goal, too.
Kilman, Aaron Cresswell and Kudus – who had earlier been booked for a high boot on Kevin Danso – combined down the West Ham left. The Ghanaian spread play right to Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who threaded to Bowen inside the Spurs box. The captain collected in space, looked up, and calmly slotted through Vicario’s legs at the near post.
Both teams sought a second before half-time, with Richarlison shooting over, then crossing a yard in front of Odobert for Tottenham, and Wan-Bissaka seeing a shot blocked by Bissouma for West Ham, but neither found one.
Into the second half and the game began to open up.
Tel worked Areola low down with a tame strike six minutes in, then moments later Kudus and Souček saw shots blocked in quick succession at the other end. Richarlison half-volleyed into the crowd and both Bowen and Bissouma slammed rising shots off target as the hour-mark passed.
Into the final 15 minutes and Pape Sarr sent a rasping shot narrowly over, then Vicario reacted well to push Bowen’s header from a James Ward-Prowse free-kick to safety. In added-time substitute Ward-Prowse curled a free-kick past the angle, and that was that.
In truth, neither team produced the overall attacking quality to warrant a win, and so both settled for a point and saw their indifferent Premier League campaigns continue.
West Ham remain 17th, a point and place below Tottenham, with a trip to Manchester United, a home game with Nottingham Forest and a visit to Ipswich Town to play.
West Ham United: Areola, Wan-Bissaka, Todibo (Coufal 79), Kilman, Cresswell (Mavropanos 88), Emerson, Souček (Soler 80), Paquetá (Ward-Prowse 80), Bowen ©, Kudus, Füllkrug (Ferguson 79)
Subs not used: Fabiański (GK), Rodríguez, Luis Guilherme, Ings
Goal: Bowen 28
Booked: Kudus, Paquetá
Tottenham Hotspur: Vicario ©, Gray, Danso, Davies, Spence, Bissouma, Sarr, Odobert, Kulusevski, Tel, Richarlison (Moore 67)
Subs not used: Kinský (GK), Porro, Udogie, Romero, van de Ven, Bentancur, Johnson, Ajayi
Goal: Sarr 15
Booked: Davies, Tel
Referee: Michael Oliver
Attendance: 62,468
