Mike Dean reacts instantly to controversial scenes in West Ham win vs Tottenham
West Ham snatched a late 2-1 victory over Tottenham on Saturday.
In what had been dubbed ‘El Sackico’ by many heading into the match, West Ham beat Tottenham 2-1 as the Hammers get a huge boost to their Premier League survival chances.
Nuno Espirito Santo was under huge pressure heading into the London derby clash at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, as is Spurs boss Thomas Frank.
However, David Sullivan has backed Nuno both in the transfer market and regarding his position in the West Ham dugout, and that could prove to be an inspired decision after Saturday’s result.
Crysencio Summerville opened the scoring after 15 minutes, before Cristian Romero levelled the scores at 1-1 with 25 minutes to play.
Mike Dean happy for West Ham winner to stand
Then came the game’s big turning point, and indeed, the real controversial moment that will be talked about for days to come.
In the third minute of added time, a West Ham corner was swung into the Tottenham box, which wasn’t dealt with by Spurs, allowing Callum Wilson to lash home from a yard out to send the away end bonkers.
However, Tottenham were furious that the goal was allowed to stand, as Wilson was stood in front of goalkeeper Vicario and used his strength to box out the keeper.
Spurs’ argument will be that Vicario was impeded from coming to gather the ball or punch it away, but reacting to the goal on Sky Sports News, former referee Mike Dean didn’t see anything wrong with it.
Presenter Simon Thomas asked Dean if it was a foul by Wilson, to which he replied: “No. He’s just been stronger than the keeper. He’s standing his ground and the keeper can’t get around him.”
West Ham have now closed the gap to Nottingham Forest – who play Arsenal in the 5.30pm kick-off on Saturday – to just four points.
- Read more: West Ham worries emerge for Nuno Espirito Santo after what ‘daft’ Taty Castellanos did vs Tottenham
Could Spurs moment be start of Wilson’s West Ham redemption story?
From West Ham outcast in the week to a Hammers hero by the weekend; Wilson has just reminded everyone of what he does best – score goals.
It was only on Thursday that it was revealed Celtic had made an approach to sign Wilson, who is understood to be looking for a London Stadium escape route this month.
However, with his goal against Tottenham potentially a watershed moment in West Ham’s season, surely Nuno must want to keep him around.
Taty Castellanos and Pablo look like they’re going to require time to adapt to English football, but in Wilson, the Hammers have a proven goalscorer who could just fire them to safety.
It will be fascinating to see what transfer talk comes in the wake of Saturday’s goal.
Stay up to date this winter with our West Ham transfer tracker. Click to see every done deal at the London Stadium, plus expert reaction from our team of writers.