Kane and Son Heung-min combine to earn Spurs vital win over West Ham

Antonio Conte will see this victory as progress: weary but persistent opponents held at arm’s length, successive league wins for the first time since early December and enough vigour in attack to suggest that Tottenham have no intention of letting Arsenal out of their sights any time soon.

The chase for that coveted fourth spot is on and Spurs will feel that they are building momentum at the right time. They are only three points below Arsenal, albeit having played a game more, and most importantly there is a sense of the pieces starting to fall into place under Conte, who can reflect not only on the devastating combinations between Harry Kane and Son Heung-min but also how his side managed the game in the second half, their rugged defending ensuring that a West Ham equaliser rarely felt likely.

In truth a tired West Ham could have few complaints about Spurs going above them. David Moyes’s starting approach was too passive and his side never looked capable of containing Kane, who forced Kurt Zouma’s own goal and made both of Son’s strikes.

It has not been easy to read Spurs under Conte. They have lurched between extremes on too many occasions in recent months and the whole project has felt fragile at times, almost as if we are only ever one nonsensical defeat away from Conte deciding enough is enough and quitting on the spot.

Yet there have been signs of promise. Take the recent clobbering of Everton, who were picked apart with devastating ease. There was a sense of something falling into place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium that night and there was a similar feeling by the 24th minute of this London derby, with Spurs in complete control and West Ham starting to fear the worst after falling two goals behind without