West Ham 2-3 Tottenham: Harry Kane brace and Christian Eriksen strike seal victory for Spurs as new boy Serge Aurier receives needless red card

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Tottenham were able to hang on but for how long will Slaven Bilic do the same? That is up in the air after Harry Kane's two goals here left him treading water and had Mauricio Pochettino purring three little words.

'I love Harry,' said Tottenham's manager. And then he said it again, just moments before Bilic sat in the same chair and attempted to make sense of a fourth defeats in six games.

They are two managers in very different situations but both of them kept returning to the same subject of Kane, a striker who is making a numerical masterpiece out of his career.

Christian Eriksen keeps his cool and stays over the ball as he smashes in an effort from the edge of the area

The midfielder looks content as he celebrates scoring Tottenham's third goal of the game against their London rivals

The Danish star is mobbed by his team-mates in front of the cameras as Tottenham take a commanding lead

West Ham's Cheikhou Kouyate jumps highest to power home a late header for 3-2 but Spurs were able to dig deep and hold on

The goalscorer is congratulated by a jubilant Javier Hernandez after giving his side a late glimmer of hope in the contest

MATCH FACTS, PLAYER RATINGS, PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE AND MATCH ZONE

West Ham (3-4-3): Hart 6; Fonte 7 (Masuaku 73, 7), Reid 6.5, Ogbonna 6; Zabaleta 6, Kouyate 7, Noble 6.5, Cresswell 6; Antonio 6 (Carroll 28, 4), Hernandez 6.5, Arnautovic 5.5 (Ayew 66, 6).

Subs unused: Adrian (Gk), Sakho, Byram, Rice

Goals: Hernandez, Koyate

Booked: Ayew, Reid, Carroll, Hernandez

Manager: Slaven Bilic 5 

Tottenham (3-4-2-1): Lloris 7; Alderweireld 7, Sanchez 7, Vertonghen 7.5; Aurier 5.5, Sissoko 7 (Trippier 78), Dier 7, Davies 6.5; Eriksen 8 (Winks 73, 6.5), Alli 7.5; Kane 8.5 (Llorente 89)

Subs unused: Son, Vorm, Nkoudou, Walker-Peters

Goals: Kane, Eriksen

Booked: Llorente, Dier 

Sent off: Aurier

Referee: Michael Oliver 7

MOTM: Kane 

Attendance: 56, 988

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Harry Kane linked up with Dele Alli yet again to put Spurs ahead in the tie. CLICK HERE to see more from Sportsmail's excellent MATCH ZONE.

England international Kane showed why he was MOTM by covering all ground.CLICK HERE to see more from Sportsmail's excellent MATCH ZONE.

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His pair of first-half strikes here took his tally to six in four games in all competitions, or 11 in five purely in away fixtures, or 20 in 29 if you count London derbies in the Premier League. Almost any way you cut it, Kane has proved a grandmaster of his art and his contribution in this match had Tottenham cruising before Christian Eriksen made it 3-0.

That is when the wobble came, with Javier Hernandez pulling one back and Serge Aurier getting sent off for a moment of abject stupidity, with two yellow cards collected in the space of five minutes. Playing with only 10 men for the last 20 minutes, Tottenham then conceded again to Cheikhou Kouyate before falling across the line.

The relief was written all over Pochettino's face as he explained the brilliance of Kane for the umpteenth time in recent years. 'I love Harry,' he said. 'I am in love, like the fans are in love, like the team-mates are in love. He is so humble, he keeps all the values that managers like me appreciate a lot. That is why I am in love with him, for different reasons.

'I think in the world Harry is one of the best. It is too hard to find words to describe him.'

Mexican striker Javier Hernandez quickly pulled one back for the Hammers with a trademark poacher's effort

The former Manchester United man hurried back to the halfway line with the ball in order to restart play at 3-1

Spurs new boy Serge Aurier receives his second yellow of the match and a red card dismissal for a series of poor challenges

The defender gets a stern talking to from Andy Carroll after the Englishman deems his challenge to be dangerous

But it was not just about Kane. Dele Alli was excellent, a playmaker with a magnificent intuition for Kane's movements - their link-up for the first goal here was the 11th time Alli has assisted him since the start of the 2015-16 season, making it the most destructive relationship in the Premier League in that time. Jan Vertonghen was also excellent, while Christian Eriksen did what he usually does in his role of puppet-master.

Combined, it meant three straight away wins at the start of this season, picking up the slack of their Wembley form, as well as exorcising the curse of the past two seasons, when losses at West Ham have wrecked Tottenham's title bids.

'I am very happy,' said Pochettino. 'Now we need to make our home at Wembley. That is our next challenge.'

Bilic's own challenge is considerable. Just about the only consolation he could take was the resilience his side showed in getting back to 3-2. When futures are decided in times of pressure, the response of players to their manager is usually one of the final points of judgement, so he has some credit there. At the very least he is not expected to fall before the home game against Swansea next weekend, but no doubt the pressure is reaching a critical point.

The attack-minded defender makes the lonely walk towards the tunnel after leaving his side to play out the tie a man down

Harry Kane slots the ball into an empty goal to score his and Tottenham's second goal of the afternoon at the London Stadium

The ball settles in the back of the net as goalkeeper Joe Hart lies on the floor dejected after conceding in quick succession 

England's star striker Kane roars in celebration after acting fast to put Spurs 2-0 ahead before half-time in east London

It will not have helped that a big issue with this performance came from his decision to bring on Andy Carroll when Michail Antonio re-injured his groin after 28 minutes. Prior to that moment, West Ham were in charge and subsequently their shape and system was not nearly so effective with Carroll involved. Far more damningly, the striker dropped a clanger for the opener on 34 minutes and he was less than impressive in the build-up to the second four minutes later. A tough day.

Bilic said: 'I have mixed emotions about the game - disappointed but proud of the fight the players showed.'

On Kane, he was almost bemused, saying: 'The best compliment I can give him is that we played with three centre backs and they all had a really good game. Yet Kane still decided the game.'

The first Kane goal was beautiful, but started with a Carroll coughing up possession on the left with a pass that went straight past Chaikhou Kouyate to Eriksen. The Dane threaded to Alli, who crossed for Kane and with a diving header of some brilliance, Spurs were ahead.

Earlier Kane watched on as his glanced effort made its way into the back of the net to get Tottenham off the mark in the clash

Kane's international colleague Hart can only watch on as the effort sails past him in the West Ham goal

The striker jumps for joy after getting himself on the score sheet yet again, much to the fury of West Ham fans in the crowd

West Ham captain Mark Noble has an altercation with Tottenham midfielder Moussa Sissoko as tensions flare up

The second Kane strike also reflected badly on Carroll, who was easily out-muscled by Jan Vertonghen in contesting a Joe Hart punt. That triggered the counter, with Eriksen looping a pass to the overlapping Vertonghen, who in turn sent Alli clear. Hart saved but the rebound went straight to Kane, who rolled a volley into the open goal.

Eriksen side-footed the third through a congested area and then came the comeback, with Hernandez heading his third of the season and Aurier stupidly scything down Carroll six minutes after his first booking. 'In football this can happen,' said Pochettino.

The pressure on Spurs grew when West Ham substitute Arthur Masuaku crossed for Kouyate three minutes from time and the midfielder buried the header, but by then the damage was too severe for a full recovery.

Time will tell if Bilic can find the fix.

Former Manchester City man Pablo Zabaleta rushes in to break up the duo as they begin to square up on the field

The Argentine then gets play back underway and plays a forward ball down the line to set up an attacking move

Manager Slaven Bilic looks anxious on the touchline, while behind him his Spurs counterpart Mauricio Pochettino crouches