Steven Bergwijn: Antonio Conte laid down the gauntlet ahead of Tottenham West Ham

Tottenham star Steven Bergwijn has revealed how Antonio Conte challenged him to go out and prove himself ahead of the Carabao Cup clash with West Ham.

Spurs defeated their London rivals and booked a place in the last four of the competition as a result, with Bergwijn playing a starring role.

The Dutchman scored the opening goal, before later crafting an opening for Lucas Moura to score what would turn out to be the match-winning goal.

And, following the action. Bergwijn opened up on what new boss Conte said to him, to inspire him into putting on an eye-catching performance following a period out of the starting XI.

'I didn’t play for a while, okay, 10 minutes maybe, but it’s different when you start a game,' Bergwijn told Tottenham's official website.

'After the goal, it went alright, I think. I’m happy. It’s my quality to go one v one and the coach said to me, "when you get the opportunity, do it", I saw the space and did it.”

The Holland international had been handed only his seventh start of what has been an up and down campaign so far, but admitted that Conte is now starting to demand more of his fringe players in a bid to get all senior stars to prove themselves.

He added: 'The coach said before that the players who start need to give him answers.

'At the beginning of the game, I lost a couple of easy balls, but after that, I think I did a better job. I’m just happy with the win.'

Tottenham have been drawn to face another of their London rivals in the semi-finals of the competition, after being pitted against Chelsea.

The victors of that fixture will face either Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool or Mikel Arteta's Arsenal in the final.