Pressure on Jose Mourinho’s future was intensifying after three consecutive defeats against Liverpool, Brighton and Chelsea, but he was boosted by the return of leading talisman Harry Kane who started at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Kane announced his comeback with a cool finish past Sam Johnstone early in the second half before Heung-Min Son ended his short goal-drought to extend Spurs’ advantage after a dazzling run by Lucas Moura.
West Brom threaten after going two-nil down, having two goals disallowed for offside, but Spurs’ quality prevailed to claim their first victory since Sheffield United on January 17.
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Story of the game
Spurs were heavily criticised for their approach against Chelsea, but they started at a higher tempo at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as West Brom, unsurprisingly, dropped off and put nine men behind the ball.
It took some individual brilliance to open the West Brom defence as Lucas drove into the box in 7th minute, skipping past two defenders, but a late lunge by Kyle Bartley denied the Brazilian a clear-cut chance.
Erik Lamela started brightly in the opening stages as Serge Aurier cut the ball back to the Argentine and his left-footed effort from the edge of the box flew over the bar.
Kane had two occasions to open the scoring on his return in the 15th minute after Aurier got clear down the right and picked out Kane on the edge of the box, who rolled the ball onto his left foot and struck the bar.
Two minutes later, Son helped the ball into the area which found Kane, but he pulled his shot wide and off-target.
As the clock reached 30 minutes, Sam Allardyce would have been pleased with his players' efforts so far after restricting Spurs to one shot on target.
Kane forced Johnstone into a routine save after finding a yard of space inside the box and unleashed right-footed effort, which was easily palmed away for a corner.
Spurs were inching closer to breaking the deadlock before the break as Son’s corner landed to Aurier at the back post and he headed across goal, but Johnstone made an excellent one-handed stop.
However, West Brom came the closest to opening the scoring. January signing Mbaye Diagne was picked out with a diagonal cross-field pass as he headed towards goal. Hugo Lloris got across to prevent the forward, smothering the ball on the goal-line.
A warning for Spurs as they headed into the break.
However, Mourinho’s men started the second half as they ended as Kane set Son through on-goal, but the South Korean mishit the shot and Johnstone saved well with his foot.
West Brom defence was finally breached 13 minutes into the second half, and who else, as Kane opened the scoring on his return.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg found Kane brilliantly on the edge of the box, who did well to check his run, then collected the pass and slotted past Johnstone. A well-deserved goal for Spurs, and Kane.
One goal became two a few minutes later, as Lucas burst forward, carrying the ball from inside his own half before picking out Son who fired home from close range to score his first goal in six matches. Settling any nerves in the Spurs camp.
West Brom did have the ball in the net as Robert Snodgrass cross was headed home by Diagne but was disallowed for offside.
Mourinho was forced into a change as Aurier limped off to be replaced by Matt Doherty, while Steven Bergwijn came on for Lamela, who would have impressed the Portuguese boss after a lively performance.
Matters could have got worse for the visitors as Snodgrass seemed to have kicked Ben Davies in an unpleasant area, but the referee booked the Scotsman with VAR deciding to keep with the on-field decision.
For a second time, West Brom had the ball in the net once again, but it was the same outcome, as Diagne was clearly offside before he poked the ball past Lloris.
Dane Scarlett was also handed his Premier League debut as the 16-year-old replaced Son in 92nd minute, while Spurs cruised to a 2-0 victory at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
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Man of the match
It had to be!
Harry Kane clearly rejuvenated Spurs’ attack and boosted the players all around him, especially Son.
The Englishman would ultimately be disappointed with his performance as he could have three or more, but you could see he was still rusty after just returning from injury.
A massive positive for Spurs ahead of a crucial week, starting with Everton in the FA Cup on Wednesday before Manchester City on Saturday.