West Ham vs Tottenham- match preview
Tottenham versus West Ham may not be the biggest or most fiercely contested London derby but Spurs have more on their plate in this match, other than marking their territory in London. Spurs were thrashed by the bitter city rivals Arsenal midweek in the
Carling Cup by 4-1.
Even though Spurs manager Harry Redknapp did make a lot of noise regarding the penalty in extra time that gave Arsenal the lead, the fact remains that it is one trophy less that Tottenham would be fighting for this season now.
While in the Premier League Tottenham has had a decent start, currently they are in the 5th spot, behind Manchester City only on goal difference. Last weekend Redkanpp’s team came from behind to win 3-1 against the un-fancied Wolves team.
Number of key players, who were not part of the team in league cup, is expected to be back in the line up this weekend. Peter Crouch the lanky striker is expected to be back in attack, while in defence, Ledley King may make a comeback. Gareth Bale, who has
been one of the most impressive Spurs’ players this season, would also take his place on the left flank and Tom Huddlestone is also expected to start.
Tottenham this season find themselves in an unfamiliar position of having 2 major fronts to fight for. They are looking to emulate their performance from last season and get the 4th spot in the league, while Harry Redknapp’s team is also trying
to make a name for themselves in their first campaign in UEFA champions League.
There is a feeling that if they try to go all out on both fronts, they may fall short at home and in Europe and Tottenham would have to pick their battles.
The first game in the champions’ league saw the London team lose a 2 goal lead and ended the first game at 2-2, but did follow it up with a league win against Wolves.
West Ham on the contrary would be in good touch after a good win against Sunderland in the Carling Cup. However, in the league Hammers are struggling badly, just one point from 5 games means that they are at the bottom of the table and fighting hard to
get out of the danger zone. Last week they earned their first and only point in a draw against Stoke City.
Scott Parker by far has been the most impressive West Ham player this season, he scored the goal that gave them the lead against Stoke and was also on the score sheet against Chelsea. During the transfer window there was immense speculation that Parker may
be on his way out of London but Hammers did well to hang on to their key player.
West Ham manager, Avram Grant would be back in his seat, after taking a match off due to a Jewish holiday called Yom Kippur break. Grant may just be the man to lead West Ham out of the battle with relegation this season, the Israeli was in charge of Chelsea
when the blues came a kick away from winning the UEFA champions league.
Good news for the manager from the midweek cup tie would be that, Parker is no longer the only goal scorer this season. Piquoinne and Obinna, both got their names on the score sheet in the win against Sunderland.
Tottenham meanwhile have a number of quality goal scorers at their disposal, the trio of Pavlyuchenko, Crouch and Keane can be a match for anyone in the league.
At home West Ham has had a mixed record in the last 6 games, they suffered 3 defeats against Chelsea, Bolton and Stoke, while they managed to earn 3 points against Wigan and Sunderland, they did play a credible draw against Man City.
Tags: