West Ham United vs. Tottenham Hotspur: Final score 2-0, Kaboul red sees Hammers beat Spurs

West Ham earned a well-deserved 2-0 victory over a woeful Tottenham Hotspur thanks in part to Younes Kaboul's red card.

The defender was sent off midway through the first half, and Spurs could not hold out for long as the Hammers quickly established a 2-0 lead over their rivals thanks to a Harry Kane own-goal and Stewart Downing.

It could have been very different as Kane charged down an Adrian clearance early on and saw the ball roll just wide of the net in an early scare for the hosts, and Tottenham did get off to a decent start. But the hosts soon began to grow into the game themselves, and could have had a penalty when Michael Dawson brought down Carroll in the area.

The turning point came midway through the half when Downing raced clear on goal only to be brought down by Kaboul, and Phil Dowd took a minute to consider before sending off the centre-back, leaving Spurs a man down and facing a free-kick in a dangerous position. Carroll blasted it goalwards, but Hugo Lloris made a fine save to keep it out. Yet Spurs could not hold out for much longer — from the resultant corner, Carroll headed goalwards and the ball flicked off Kane to land into the net.

Not long after, things got worse for Spurs as Dawson — who was already having a poor game — gave away a free-kick just outside the area. This time Downing stepped up to take it, and the visitors' wall parted to allow his shot to fly straight through and past Lloris to leave Spurs facing a defeat at the home of their rivals.

West Ham looked for more goals initially in the second half, with Mohamed Diame seeing an acrobatic effort saved by Lloris, before the Frenchman once again made a superb save to deny Kevin Nolan from close range.

The rest of the game passed without too much incident as West Ham comfortably held onto their lead, with Spurs unable to really threaten the hosts' goal until the last minute, when Danny Rose threatened a consolation goal after a fine run, but Adrian managed to claw his effort over the bar. Despite the numerical disadvantage, it was another pretty woeful display from Tottenham, while Sam Allardyce may have alleviated some of the pressure placed upon him by the Hammers faithful.