Spurs spurn chance to move up to fourth as Zouma earns West Ham derby draw

West Ham 1 Tottenham 1

Tottenham and West Ham may have big European ambitions but a tepid draw in an ultimately frustrating London derby has left neither side any nearer to achieving them.

Goals from Brennan Johnson and Kurt Zouma, both in the first half, saw the rivals draw 1-1 in a match that rather petered out and left both teams feeling they had just wasted a big opportunity.

Spurs are still sitting fifth in the table at the end of it all, albeit slightly closer to fourth-placed Aston Villa, but this was their game in hand – and it required something more if they wanted to make a statement about their Champions League potential.

West Ham, meanwhile, remain seventh, three points behind Manchester United, but no nearer to achieving their dream of reaching the Europa League for the second season in a row – or to breaking a poor run of more than a month without a win in the Premier League.

Even so, the result may irk Tottenham fans the most, especially when you consider it is West Ham currently enjoying the thrill of European football, with a huge Europa League tie against Bayer Leverkusen on the horizon.

Spurs remain 12 points ahead of their London rivals, but there was no sense of celebration in the away end when the final whistle blew.

Spurs last played in the Champions League in 2022-23, when they reached the last 16 before losing to AC Milan and have enjoyed seven campaigns in all in their history; with ambitions strengthened by the clever management of Posicoglou this season, who took over a side which finished eighth last season to miss out on Europe altogether.

Their recent form has been somewhat patchy (including a surprise 3-0 defeat against Fulham) but hat you can say, however, is that Tottenham are becoming