A bout of food poisoning affecting 10 of the Tottenham Hotspur squad’s players put the game against West Ham United in doubt at Upton Park on Sunday, but with West Ham involved in the FA Cup final against Liverpool on Saturday, and with rules forced down by the FA Premier League, the match went ahead at the scheduled time of 3pm.
A 2-1 defeat against the Hammers put paid to Tottenham’s chances of participating in next season’s Champions League as arch-rivals Arsenal took the coveted fourth sport in the Premiership, leaving Spurs to join West Ham in the Uefa Cup.
It was a match that Tottenham Hotspur’s manager, Martin Jol, felt should have been rearranged.
”To be honest we asked the Premier League to postpone the match for one day because you know how it is with food poisoning; you can feel better after six to eight hours, but the only thing is that it was our responsibility,” he commented.
”You can’t take that responsibility because I think there was one English team in the past who did the same and they were sanctioned, so we couldn’t take that risk. We had 10 players in bed and then we asked the Premier League to postpone it for three hours until 6pm, and that wasn’t possible.”
Battling through illness, Michael Dawson, Edgar Davids, Michael Carrick and Robbie Keane were all forced into the starting line-up, and Keane had the extra trouble of an ankle injury. Three of the four players remained on the pitch for the duration of the match, with only Carrick being substituted during the second half as the pace of the game took its toll.
The Spurs players got off to a slow start and fell behind on nine minutes to Carl Fletcher’s long-range effort as the Hammers took a deserved lead. Jermain Defoe struck an equaliser for Tottenham 10 minutes before half-time, and West Ham’s Teddy Sheringham had a penalty saved by Paul Robinson in the 51st minute after Teemu Tainio had brought down Bobby Zamora.
The game was won in the 80th minute by an instinctive finish by Yossi Benayoun to cap an inspired performance by the Hammers.
It left West Ham manager Alan Pardew in an upbeat mood. ”It was difficult for Spurs today and they had the problems, but we had to put that to one side, and play our game, and focus on our energy levels and what we’re about because we have to take that into the final, of course,” he said.
”We were absolutely superb today and I think if Tottenham hadn’t been so under the weather, I think they would have still seen how difficult it was today, we really were in good shape.
”You have to take credit to Spurs, they came and gave a good account of themselves, and by no means would I say that they were at full strength and full ability. You could see that one or two were suffering.
”It was difficult for them, the biggest day of their season so far, to get in that Champions League place, and unfortunately it went against them today.”