Five things we learned as West Ham finally make the London Stadium a home by ending Tottenham's title hopes

Tottenham desperately missed Mousa Dembele, Kyle Walker failed to impress after a difficult week and Mauricio Pochettino may have a thing or two to learn from Slaven Bilic

Pochettino saw his title hopes finally die at the London Stadium (Getty)

West Ham stunned their city rivals Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 at the London Stadium, killing off any faint hope Spurs still had of beating Chelsea to the Premier League title.

Manuel Lanzini scored the only goal of the game, lashing the ball past Hugo Lloris from close-range to secure all three points for Slaven Bilic's men.

Spurs were poor throughout and looked lethargic both at the back and going forward, with Harry Kane spurning their best chance of the match in the first-half, shooting directly at Adrian.

Here are five things we learned from a hard-fought London derby...

Mauricio Pochettino has a lot to learn from Slaven Bilic

Lanzini fires past Lloris from close-range (Getty)

​Aware of how difficult next season promises to be away from White Hart Lane, Mauricio Pochettino admitted in his pre-match press conference that he was looking forward to getting some advice from Slaven Bilic on the subject of switching stadiums.

“It will be a great opportunity to speak to him,” Pochettino said, perhaps a touch optimistically. “And there will be a lot of questions for me to ask him. It is always important to listen and to be open to learn and maybe he can advise us on a few different things.”

He may just have more to learn than he first thought. It has taken West Ham the best part of a full season to settle into their new home — but this victory already feels like a turning point of sorts.

Not only does it mean that the club are mathematical safe from relegation, but it also surely kills off any faint hope Tottenham had of overhauling Chelsea at the top of the Premier League table: a sweet bonus for West Ham's long-suffering supporters. After numerous on and off the pitch struggles, West Ham are finally beginning to feel at home again.

Kyle Walker struggled to deal with the pressure

Walker is booked early into the first-half (Getty)

It was utterly unsurprising that, after a week of frenzied transfer speculation following the Independent’s exclusive story that Kyle Walker is considering a move away from Tottenham Hotspur, all eyes were on the full-back at kick-off.

A surprise inclusion in Tottenham’s starting XI given all of the rumours — not to mention Kieran Trippier’s vastly improved form in recent weeks — Walker made an uncharacteristically sluggish start to this match.

He picked up a very unnecessary yellow card early on, and twice failed to deal with route-A long-balls over the top, allowing the impish Manuel Lanzini to sneak behind the back-line and make a nuisance of himself.

Walker was also poor going forward. His crossing from deep positions was lacklustre, and with the crowd on his back, he looked vulnerable. If he truly was playing for his future under Pochettino: this performance won’t have done him any favours.

Spurs are not the same team without Mousa Dembele

Dier was below par for Tottenham (Getty Images)

How Tottenham missed the power and purpose of Mousa Dembele against West Ham. For the second match in a row, Pochettino elected to leave the Belgian out of his starting line-up, with the player still not thought to be at 100% after picking up a knock against Crystal Palace.

Naturally, Spurs missed his drive and uncanny ability to smoothly glide past opposing players – few teams have a deep-lying play-maker with such an ability to take opponents on – but they also missed his off-the-ball presence.

In his absence, Eric Dier was forced to play in a more stationary role alongside Vincent Wanyama, denying Tottenham the ability to seamlessly flit between 4-2-3-1 and 3-4-3 formations, as they have been wont to do all season.

The consequence: Spurs appeared rigid and struggled to break down West Ham’s committed five-man defence.

Pochettino brought on the midfielder as soon as Tottenham conceded midway through the second-half but, by that point, it was already too late.

But West Ham did not miss Andy Carroll

Lanzini failed to hit the target - although almost won a penalty (AFP/Getty Images)

Slaven Bilic kept everybody guessing with his team selection, revealing ahead of the match that his decision whether or not to name Andy Carroll in his starting XI would have to wait until the last possible moment.

In the end, the target-man wasn’t deemed fit enough for a place in the match day squad, with Jonathan Calleri chosen to lead the line, with Manuel Lanzini and Andre Ayew playing just off his shoulder.

Early on, it looked as though the big man was going to be missed. Lanzini could have had a penalty when Lloris came haring off his line and wiped him out, but he was also guilty of missing a gilt-edged chance, dragging a shot across the face of goal after just 7 minutes.

But he more than made up for it in the second-half, when he buried a shot past Lloris from close-range. The forward is one of the most talented players at Bilic's disposal.

The London Stadium survives its Friday fright night

Police officers stand outside the London Stadium prior to kick-off (Getty)

It’s fair to say that more than a fair few eyebrows were raised when it was first announced that this fixture had been moved to an 8pm kick-off on a Friday, on the behest of Sky Sports.

Given the always fractious atmosphere of this derby fixture, as well as the London Stadium’s security problems earlier in the season, this seemed like a disaster waiting to happen.

The Met Police responded accordingly, handing the game ‘Category C’ status, while West Ham co-chairmen David Sullivan and David Gold asked for ‘passion and not problems’ ahead of kick-off.

Fortunately, their pleas were answered. The match passed without serious incident.