Tottenham Hotspur vs West Ham United – Preview

Posted on November 21, 2015 by Sreya

Tottenham Hotspur will aim to extend their ten-match unbeaten streak in the English Premier League when West Ham United travel to White Hart Lane on Sunday. It will be an intriguing London derby with both teams on 21 points after twelve games, West Ham a position below the fifth-placed Spurs.

Team News

Alex Pritchard, Nabil Bentaleb and Nacer Chadli have been ruled out with injuries for the hosts, while Erik Lamela is suspended after the energetic winger received his fifth caution against Arsenal in Spurs’ last match. Clinton N’Jie is also listed as a doubt.

James Collins is suspended for the visitors while Enner Valencia, Dmitri Payet and Alex Song sidelined through injuries and lack of match fitness. Pedro Obiang and Diafra Sakho are doubts for Slaven Bilic.

Tottenham Hotspur Possible Starting Lineup: Hugo Lloris, Kyle Walker, Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen, Danny Rose, Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Christian Eriksen, Mousa Dembele, Son Heung-Min, Harry Kane.

West Ham United Possible Starting Lineup: Adrian, Carl Jenkinson, James Tomkins, Winston Reid, Aaron Creswell, Cheikhou Kouyate, Mark Noble, Mauro Zarate, Manuel Lanzini, Victor Moses, Andy Carroll.

Thoughts From Both Camps

“West Ham have won a lot of away games against big teams so we know it will be a tough game and that we’ll need to be at our best. Everyone enjoys the London derbies. We will all be up for it. We’ve worked hard this week and we’re determined to get the result we all want on Sunday.”

– Eric Dier, Tottenham Hotspur.

“I have full confidence in my team-mates. There have been many injuries and suspensions since the start of the season. Every time a player has had to come into the team they have done very well and have even won some games.”

– Dmitri Payet, West Ham United.

Contributor’s Pick

According to Head-2-Head statistics, Tottenham Hotspur have won 42% of its matches against West Ham United and have drawn only 22%. In their last six encounters, the Hammers have gotten better off Spurs, winning thrice and drawing once.

Both teams drew their respective last matches, but have won twice in their last four matches, so it should be a relatively closely-fought fixture. While White Hart Lane has been witness to an average of 2.5 goals in the last four Tottenham Hotspur vs West Hame United fixtures in all competitions, the Hammers have scored a minimum of two goals in five of their previous six encounters with Spurs.

The match is likely to end in a 2-2 draw.