For years, West Ham and having a weak mentality have been synonymous with each other, but Sunday’s heroic comeback against Spurs shows that those days are well and truly behind them.
As the Hammers crumbled down to a 3 goal deficit within the first 15 minutes, even the most ardent of West Ham fan would have struggled to truly believe that there was any hope of recovery, and in fact, most would have been fearing the worst as Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min were both in mesmerising form.
It would have been easy to crumble but, to be fair, David Moyes’ men showed some backbone and kept the score somewhat respectable for the majority of the remainder of the game, owing the seemingly impending loss to some phenomenal Spurs football as much as their own questionable defending.
What happened in the final stages of the match, though, was quite literally unprecedented, as three goals in the final eight minutes plus stoppage time earned West Ham a point that will go down in Hammers folklore.
3 - West Ham are the first team in Premier League history to avoid defeat in a game having been 0-3 down as late as the 81st minute. Comeback. #TOTWHU pic.twitter.com/bvsiVTV8X8
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 18, 2020
Manuel Lanzini’s outrageous strike in the dying seconds of the game got the world of football rocking, and in turn, showed it that nobody should take West Ham lightly anymore.
While the Hammers may not have had the best of transfer windows, Moyes has now got a squad with heart and courage, two things in which previous seasons at London Stadium were lacking.
Just last campaign, for example, West Ham dropped more points from winning positions than any other team in the league, pointing to a lack of belief even when things were going their way.
This is a new season, however, and following the back of conclusive victories against Wolves and Leicester and the subsequent fightback against Tottenham, the steel in this Hammers squad looks tougher to dent than ever.
With arguably even more difficult fixtures looming on the horizon, starting against Manchester City at London Stadium, West Ham should now be relishing every challenge that is thrown at them rather than living in fear.
If they can make this new-found resilience the norm, more moments like Lanzini’s equalizer may be just around the corner.