With a 3-2 London derby victory over West Ham at London Stadium, Jose Mourinho enjoyed a winning start as Tottenham manager.
Son Heung-min and Lucas Moura’s first-half goals and Harry Kane’s third four minutes after the break gave Tottenham their first Premier League victory since January 20.
The outcome is piling up pressure on West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini, whose team from their last seven matches has now earned two points.
Late goals from substitute Michail Antonio and Angelo Ogbonna gave a flattering look to the final scoreline, but the result made a mockery of an ill-advised message from West Ham’s social media team after Mourinho’s hiring, reflecting the difficulties the 56-year-old had experienced at London Stadium.
Mourinho suggested in the build-up to the game that there would be no massive changes to a side that has been used to competing for honors for the first five years of Pochettino’s reign, even though they have never actually won any.
The opener was greeted by Mourinho with a celebratory blow to the ground
Out of contract next summer and out of sorts on the pitch, Mourinho dismissed a pre-match question about consistency as the explanation for the Christian Eriksen’s absence by suggesting that he needed to know “What’s in his mind and heart?”
For accepting passengers on his managerial journey, Mourinho has never been one and obviously he’s not about to start now.
If this day was all about Mourinho, it was used by supporters of West Ham as an excuse for turning on their own.
Having lost his first ever competitive game as manager with Benfica in September 2000, Jose Mourinho has since gone undefeated in his first game in charge of each of his eight clubs, including two different spells with Chelsea.
In this match, Mourinho won as many points as Mauricio Pochettino scored with Tottenham for his last 12-run Premier League games.
West Ham picked up just two points in the Premier League from their last 21 available.
Tottenham won for the first time in their history three straight league games against West Ham.
Harry Kane scored eight goals in his last nine games against West Ham in the Premier League.
Tottenham host Olympiakos on Tuesday in the Champions League before Saturday’s home Premier League match against Bournemouth.