Sports

Spurs win, Hammers blow for City

Spurs win, Hammers blow for City

By Reuters

London, September 20 Son Heung-min scored the only goal on his home Premier League debut as Tottenham Hotspur beat Crystal Palace 1-0 on Sunday and moved into the top half of the table after a well-deserved victory in an end-to-end London derby. Son, who scored twice when Spurs beat FK Qarabag 3-1 in the Europa League on Thursday, scored again after Spurs broke up a Palace attack in the 68th minute. Erik Lamela released substitute Christian Eriksen, and the Dane played the ball into space for the South Korean who honed in on goal before powering a shot that went through goalkeeper Alex McCarthy’s legs and into the net. Spurs dominated possession for most of an entertaining first half without breaking down the Palace defence or seriously troubling McCarthy. But Palace, despite being continually penned back twice came close to scoring before the break. Hugo Lloris’ acrobatic dive kept out a thunderous Bakary Sako free kick after 38 minutes and Yohan Cabaye smashed an angled shot against the far post just before halftime. The result lifted Spurs up to ninth with nine points from six matches, with Palace eighth on same total. On Saturday, seemingly invincible Manchester City lost their 100 per cent record to West Ham United on a day of contrasting fortunes for the Premier League title favourites. West Ham won 2-1 at the Etihad to become the first team not only to beat City in the league but also to score against them this season and have now won at Arsenal, Liverpool and City in their first six matches. City had a chance to maintain their 11-point lead over the champions, but West Ham had other ideas and ended City’s run of five straight wins since the start of the season. It also ended a City club record run of 11 straight league wins since last April. The Hammers, who have now won at Arsenal, Liverpool and City, became the first team to score in the league against City this season when Victor Moses fired in a 20-yard drive after six minutes and they doubled their lead when Diafra Sakho scrambled home after 31 minutes.