West Ham 1 Spurs 0
On a night that summed up this most extraordinary of Premier League seasons, Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester City all lost, leaving Leicester to cherish the point they secured in a 2-2 draw against West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday evening.
The Foxes remain three points clear of Tottenham, with third place Arsenal six points adrift after their title bid suffered another devastating blow, this time a 2-1 home defeat to Swansea.
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But it will be the Gunners north London rivals who'll wake this morning feeling sick to the pit of their stomachs. Victory against the Hammers would have taken Spurs top, a position they haven't occupied since 1964, but the pressure clearly got to Mauricio Pochettino's men as they lost in the league for the first time since their 1-0 defeat to Leicester on 13 January.
Michail Antonio's seventh-minute header from Dimitri Payet's corner was the only goal of the game but West Ham dominated the encounter, pressing the visitors in a style similar to the one that Spurs have employed to such good effect this season.
"To match Spurs you have to play well, but to outplay them and win was magnificent," reflected Hammers manager Slaven Bilic, whose side are now unbeaten in 12 successive home league games - their best streak since 1998. "In all aspects of football we were magnificent and I congratulate the players."
The victory lifts West Ham into sixth position and they are now just five points behind Arsenal. Given the Gunners implosion, and also the stuttering form of the two Manchester clubs (City are fourth and United fifth), the more optimistic Hammers fans is beginning to dream of the Champions League.
At the start of February Bilic declared that West Ham "don't have Champions League ambitions, we are very far away from that", but four weeks on and they're very much in the mix.
As are Tottenham for the title in a race that is sure to have more twists and turns between now and 15 May. But losing to West Ham - only Spurs fourth league reverse of the season - was a serious setback and it makes Saturday's north London derby against Arsenal absolutely critical.
"We didn't start well. The first half was poor, we never found solutions to play like we normally play," conceded Pochettino. Asked if it was down to nerves, he replied: "No. I think we made some mistakes that we normally don't make. We started badly, conceded a goal and West Ham played better than us."
And Pochettino has already turned his thoughts towards the derby against Arsenal, a match Spurs simply cannot afford to lose if they're to keep Leicester in sight.
“When you see you can blame that the players are tired or whatever but the reality is that it was just a bad night for us to play the way we play tonight," he said. "We need to be positive and it is important to be ready for Saturday."
