Ferdinand scored West Ham's opener
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West Ham boss Glenn Roeder praised Les Ferdinand after the 2-0 victory over Tottenham - and revealed that the striker may have fractured his eye socket.
Ferdinand was hurt in a clash of heads with Spurs defender Dean Richards just 13 minutes into the game at Upton Park.
But he stayed on to score against his old club, and Michael Carrick grabbed a second to boost the Hammers' hopes of beating the drop.
"Les has been a breath of fresh air at this football club," said Roeder.
"Everyone likes him, we all know where he has been in his career, we all know his CV.
We didn't show the desire West Ham showed and we didn't deserve anything from the game
Tottenham boss Glenn Hoddle
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"I had worked with him before so I knew what sort of human being I was bringing into the club, and that is important to me.
"He is a wonderful guy and he has got the ability to go with it.
"Lots of players would have come off after receiving the sort of bang on the head Les got - he might have a crack in his eye socket.
"But there was no chance of him coming off. He is much too tough for that and it was just what he deserved getting the first goal for us."
While Roeder described it as his team's best home display of the season, Spurs boss Glenn Hoddle said it was one of his side's worst.
"We didn't perform well enough," admitted Hoddle.
"We didn't pass well enough, we didn't show the desire that West Ham showed and we didn't deserve anything from the game.
"We have started like that in other games this season but have managed to turn it around, and we gave away two poor goals.
"We have got to draw a line under that type of performance or we won't achieve our ambition of getting into Europe.
"There are still 27 points up for grabs and a lot of teams clamouring for them, and we need to bounce back in our next game which is at home to Liverpool."