The lifespan of a Tottenham Hotspur manager can be perilously short. Just ask Andre Villas-Boas and Tim Sherwood, the two men most recently having vacated that position. 

Tottenham may not have quite lurched into a full crisis last season, but Mauricio Pochettino, the new man charged with Daniel Levy’s vision, will be best advised to ensure that the results come soon. Pochettino is the chairman’s ninth manager in 11 years. 

In his first competitive game in charge since making the summer move up from Southampton, however, the former Argentina defender saw his players steal a win in this enjoyable London against West Ham United courtesy of an injury-time strike from new signing Eric Dier. 

The Spurs boss was left pleased by the result which was a desperate blow for the home side, who were much the better in the first half. 

“The important thing is to never give up,’ said Pochettino. There are times in football that are difficult to manage but the team believed. We kept our offensive players on the pitch. We didn’t change.” 

Things would have been different had West Ham’s Mark Noble put away a spot-kick in the first half after Tottenham’s Kyle Naughton was dismissed for handling the ball in the penalty area. It was rolled wide of Hugo Lloris’s post by the West Ham defender. 

Referee Chris Foy evened things up in the second half when he sent off West Ham defender James Collins for two bookable offences. 

By then Spurs were beginning to dominate and looked better when winger Andros Townsend, missing for some of last season with injury, came on in the second half. 

The winning goal came two minutes into injury time when Dier sprinted forward from his position as full-back, latching on to a pass from substitute Harry Kane before rounding West Ham goalkeeper Adrian and putting away the ball. 

West Ham boss Sam Allardyce said: “I can’t fault the performance but we were very naive. We had enough to win and paid the ultimate price. This league will punish you.”