OPINION

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino had several reasons to be cheery after watching his side brush aside West Ham in the EFL Cup on Wednesday.

Spurs defeated the Hammers 3-1 and looked comfortable throughout the game at the London Stadium, yet given the amount of players Pochettino handed chances to, then he certainly would have learnt a thing or two about his squad.

Pochettini’s side faced disappointed on Monday when they lost 1-0 to Manchester City but will now feel confident about facing Wolves on Saturday evening.

Forever West Ham have rounded up three things learned about Spurs from their display against West Ham:

Foyth snatched his chance

From a Hammers’ perspective they would rather have not seen Foyth play against them in hindsight. The 20-year-old centre-back, who barely gets to feature due to Spurs having fantastic options when it comes to heart of their defence, took his chance to shine and then some. Foyth was a force to be reckoned with at the back as he consistently made well-timed tackles and looked able to handle the majority of what the Hammers threw at him. While the defender does have tough competition when it comes to breaking into the first-team, you feel it’s only a matter of time before he is regularly featuring for Pochettino’s side given his latest outing.

Skipp could have been afforded more minutes

Oliver Skipp is clearly a player worth keeping an eye on at Tottenham as positive reports continue to emerge about his potential. However it was a shame that Pochettino didn’t give the teenager longer to impress against the Hammers, especially as it was a relatively comfortable outing for his side. Skipp was only brought on to replace Christian Eriksen in the 85th minute of the game, which was nowhere near enough time to see if he could showcase a glimpse of his talent. While Spurs need to take the EFL Cup seriously this season as it is a very winnable piece of silverware for them, it’s clear Skipp could have been afforded more minutes on Wednesday.

KWP needs Jan exit

Kyle Walker-Peters got handed his first opportunity in the first-team for this season and submitted an acceptable performance. The 21-year-old defender had moments that would please Spurs fans, as he looked comfortable in possession, but he did look a bit lightweight. This wasn’t helped by the fact he was assigned the mission of stopping Michail Antonio from running riot for the Hammers, as the winger is a unit with his strength being one of his main attributes. While Antonio struggled for the Hammers, he did look easily able to muscle Walker-Peters off the ball on several occasions and it shows that the defender needs to improve his strength. Also given that he will likely continue to struggle to get regular playing time at Spurs then his cause to establish himself at the club needs to be helped by him securing a January exit for himself. The promising defender is in need of a loan move where he would get regularly games and be able to improve in order to return a better player.