West Ham puts massive dent in Tottenham's title bid

Is that it for the title race?

In the Premier League's first Friday-evening fixture of 2017, West Ham United put a massive dent in Tottenham Hotspur's title bid, defeating Spurs 1-0 at the London Stadium. The result left Mauricio Pochettino's side four points back of Chelsea, and the Blues have a match in hand on their crosstown rival.

If Chelsea beats Middlesbrough on Monday and West Bromwich Albion in one week's time, the Blues will capture their fifth title of the Premier League era.

The result was eerily reminiscent of what happened last March, when Tottenham missed the opportunity to go top of the Premier League, falling 1-0 to West Ham at Upton Park as Michail Antonio scored the lone goal. It was a pivotal moment in Leicester City's historic conquest of English football.

This time around, it was Manuel Lanzini who ripped out Tottenham's soul. After a cross from Aaron Cresswell wreaked havoc in Spurs' penalty area, the ball rolled toward the Argentinian attacker, who, left unmarked and with plenty of time, rocketed it past Hugo Lloris in the 64th minute.

Tottenham produced a handful of chances but failed to pick apart West Ham's defence. At no point did Spurs - in search of its 10th consecutive victory in the Premier League - look convincing, and it's looking like it will be another season in which Pochettino's side manufactured a phenomenal campaign, only to be knocked down by an unstoppable force.

(Photo courtesy: Action Images)

As for West Ham, the result may help Slaven Bilic keep his job. The Croatian manager's future will reportedly be determined by the Hammers' final two home games of the season, and the club will end up with six points from those two fixtures by defeating Liverpool on May 14.

West Ham also crossed the 40-point mark by slaying Tottenham and is finally safe from relegation.