Tottenham Hotspur vs West Ham United – Preview

The fixtures are coming thick and fast once again for Tottenham Hotspur, with each coming game proving to be as important as the next.

At midday, we take on West Ham United in the reverse fixture of our opening day clash- a similar result would come in handy at such a crucial time in our season.

Thursday night’s performance with Fiorentina could only be described as bipolar; for thirty minutes, you’d have thought it was Barcelona vs Fiorentina, but after the Viola levelled the tie, we crumbled into a side Barnet would be proud of.

By the time Jose Maria Basanta had scored a scrappy goal in front of the Paxton End, we really should have been three or four to the good. Again, we failed to kill off a game and it’s hurt us.

The side we played that night was thankfully only half strong, and we can welcome back a number of regular starters ahead of the Hammers’ visit.

Our East London foes are without Andy Carroll and possibly Cheikhou Kouyate and Diafra Sakho, whilst Morgan Amalfitano is suspended. Sam Allardyce could also include new signing Nene for the first time. Thankfully, Ravel Morrison won’t be back at the Lane to cause us any more misery…

Some attention may be on Winston Reid, who was the subject of media speculation surrounding a move across London to Spurs in January.

West Ham have only won once in the Premier League since 2015 began, and only twice in their last ten. They’ve been sliding down the table after such a confident start to the season, but we can’t get too complacent- before last year’s 0-3 loss, we could have moved top when the Hammers were stuck in the bottom three.

Spurs are unbeaten in their last seven at home, and we only haven’t won in that time when we haven’t scored.

If we’re serious about challenging for the top four, we should be winning this fixture, no questions asked. I don’t care if it’s a derby; we are leaps and bounds ahead of West Ham United.

The Europa League is also a priority for Mauricio Pochettino, as well as next week’s League Cup final. Theoretically, this fixture congestion shouldn’t bother us considering our fitness levels and impressive results over the Christmas period. What we really need is momentum, and beating an old foe would be the perfect start to the week.

From Thursday’s line up, I expect only Lloris, Walker, Vertonghen, Bentaleb and Eriksen to keep their places.

Eric Dier marked his Tottenham debut with a memorable winner at Upton Park, and has since gone on to prove quite the centre back; he should replace Federico Fazio.

I like Ben Davies, but he just isn’t Danny Rose. The Welshman is too timid to burst forward and exploit the space on the left flank, and whilst he may not boast the pace of his English counterpart, he needs to know he is well covered. Wing backs are crucial to our system, and so Rose should come back into the eleven.

Ryan Mason to replace Paulinho. I don’t need to provide an explanation.

As much as I insist Mousa Dembele isn’t right for our system, I believe he’ss come back in for Nacer Chadli on Sunday.

On the right flank, I may have stuck by Andros Townsend to start this game if he could keep up his performance against Fiorentina. Unfortunately, he turned from Ryan Giggs to David Bentley very quickly, and so I believe Erik Lamela will replace him.

Our ‘midfield dynamite’ hasn’t provided much of a spark in recent games, and with the cup final to come, don’t be surprised if Eriksen is dropped for this fixture.

And of course, Harry Kane will start up top. His impact on Thursday may have been minimal, but he’s our talisman and currently the best player in our side- he has to start.

A win would take us to within a point of the top four, if only for a few hours. We need the points, even if they come ugly.

Predicted XI: Lloris; Walker, Dier, Vertonghen, Rose; Bentaleb, Mason; Lamela, Dembele, Eriksen; Kane