Spurs have fallen to their fourth defeat in five with a 2-1 reverse at home to West Ham – and they only have themselves to blame.

Ange Postecoglou’s men were sitting pretty at 1-0 up thanks to an early Cristian Romero header, then missed a host of chances to extend their lead against a Hammers side who couldn’t get out of their own end.

Yet after spurning their own opportunities, Tottenham presented two gift-wrapped chances to their opponents.

Their defence was nowhere to be seen as Mohammed Kudus was able to shoot, with his effort deflecting off two Spurs players and into the path of Jarrod Bowen to level the scores.

Then Destiny Udogie’s blind backpass allowed James Ward-Prowse an easy shot on goal, and while he hit the post, the rebound fell perfectly for the midfielder to finish on the rebound.

“Spurs were sensational in the first half, they wanted to run forward and create,” said ex-Tottenham man Michael Brown on the BBC.

“Great desire and quality.

“You wondered if West Ham could react but then it was the classic away performance, waiting for their chances. Bowen was excellent and Ward-Prowse got the winner. An unbelievable game of football.”

Spurs had rebounded from three consecutive defeats with a stirring 3-3 draw at Manchester City over the weekend, but are now outside the Champions League qualification spots in fifth place – and level with Manchester United.

West Ham aren’t far behind, with this result lifting them to ninth, just three points back from Spurs.

In the other match, Everton trounced Newcastle 3-0 to move clear of the relegation zone despite their ten point penalty for financial irregularities.

They left it late, with goals from Dwight McNeil, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Brazilian striker Beto enough to down the Magpies.

“Without those 10 points, we’d be in an amazing position,” said Toffees boss Sean Dyche. “20 points would be amazing relatively to the last two seasons here.

“We’ll see what the appeal brings. The mentality is key for me, we took a knock but there have been a lot of knocks here over the last couple of years.

“But the team mentality is growing. I can’t emphasise it enough, the commitment to each other and the connection is a powerful thing because I know we’ve got quality.”

Eddie Howe’s side are proving one of the most inconsistent in the league, albeit with a lengthy injury list.

In the last month, they have defeated Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea – as well as drawing at French heavyweights PSG in the Champions League – but have now lost comfortably to two cellar dwellers in Everton and Bournemouth.

“We have to do better,” said Howe.

“There are reasons behind every performance and we have struggled to change players. That is a big miss with the quality of players out. The longer you do it, the harder it gets. I am disappointed, a missed opportunity, we did not grab it.

“The game was there for us to win in the second half. The first half was even and we had them penned in in the second half. We conceded the first goal and it changed the momentum of the match. Frustrating and a chance missed.”