David Moyes admits West Ham struggled to deal with Spurs star

West Ham United came crashing back down to earth following their Europa League win in midweek with a 3-1 defeat at Champions League-chasing Tottenham Hotspur.

The Hammers certainly made the most of their victory against Sevilla on Thursday night to secure their place in the quarter-final of the competition but could not put a glove on Antonio Conte’s Tottenham.

West Ham boss David Moyes described the performance of Harry Kane as ‘exceptional’ and admitted that his side found it difficult to contain the England international.

Kane was a constant threat and provided the assist for Kurt Zouma’s own goal, along with both of Heung-min Son’s efforts either side of half time.

The north Londoners now have 51 points, three fewer than fourth-placed Arsenal who have a match in hand, while the Hammers drop to seventh with 48 points, having played one match more than Spurs.

Moyes told the official West Ham site: “To lose the third goal was a sickener because we’d gone two down – and I think both of their goals were a little bit unlucky, a little bit unfortunate, both took deflections or were own goals.

“I think Tottenham were a big, big threat on the counter-attack. When we gave the ball away, they became a big threat.

“I thought Harry Kane was exceptional with the way he played and we found it difficult trying to deal with him.

“We hung in there and we stuck at it. At 2-1 down with five minutes to go – less than that – even at that point I thought we might go and nick a second goal here, but we weren’t to do so.”

SpursWeb Opinion

Kane was again impressive and will be kicking himself not to have got on the scoresheet when he should have done better by his own standards in the second half when he put his effort high over the crossbar.

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