West Ham travel to White Hart Lane on Sunday to face a Tottenham side that hasn’t lost at home in the league early November following a 4-0 at West Brom.
The Hammers recent away form is less than impressive, registering only 1 win in 5 away games, form which is likely to derail any hopes of Europe if Allardyce can’t improve his side’s chances away from the Boleyn Ground.
Comparatively, Tottenham have been in fine fettle with Pochettino’s squad starting to grasp his methods. With pressing from the front, increased fitness and the fine form of Harry Kane resulting in a 5 place move up the table over their last 10 premier league fixtures.
So what can we expect from West Ham to combat Spurs and their increased intensity?
Formation
Formationally we can expect Tottenham to play 4-2-3-1 with Ryan Mason in a holding position alongside Nabil Bentaleb; with both showing that they have the ability to play premier league football having been given greater opportunities by Pochettino’s this season. How Downing plans to escape the strong tackling of Mason will be an interesting one to watch for sure, but one that we can all expect Downing to be up to.
The attacking midfield trio of Christian Eriksen, Erik Lamella and one other (Moussa Dembele was oddly picked vs Liverpool) is one that should certainly keep the Hammers on their toes, particularly with Eriksen’s recent creative showings. The fluidity of the 3 has been impressive, more noticeably when Nacer Chadli is selected but having Alex Song within our ranks allows us to challenge with the best in this area of the pitch.
This of course couldn’t be a Tottenham preview without mentioning Harry Kane, given that he has, entirely unexpectedly risen to be one of the league’s top strikers this season. His movement across the front line will undoubtedly be a challenge for our back 4, but a possible return for Winston Reid should boost our chances. That said, if any of our defence put in a performance similar to that of the West Brom battering then expect Kane to take full advantage and add to his total of 21 from 26 games for the season.
Tottenham’s defence is clearly their weakest area with Danny rose, Kyle Walker and Eric Dier really not screaming champions league contenders but Pochettino has certainly organized them in a better way than previous Spurs managers.
For West Ham, I can only hope and pray for a return to the diamond. While the 4-3-3 was showing real signs of life with Andy Carroll involved, Carlton Cole is simply not of the same quality. Put Downing back to the tip of the diamond where he has been at his best, play Sakho and Valencia as strikers with the only position really in doubt being the left side. I feel that even with Kevin Nolan pushed out of position; we would be in a far better situation tactically even if he personally is not at his most effective.
If Sam does persist with 4-3-3 however, you can expect Carlton to get the better of Eric Dier in the air though Jan Vertonghen is more likely to be tasked with marking him. A move away from Dier completely wouldn’t be a huge surprise given the physicality of the West Ham forward line and the lineups could give one or 2 surprises come Sunday.
Last Time Out
If we cast our minds back to the same fixture last season, West Ham were in a far worse position than now and were propositioned with an improving Tottenham side. Allardyce played Mohamed Diame as the furthest outfield player despite his numerous striking options (all who were somewhat crap). The hammers came out with a shock 3-0 win, goals from Winston Reid, Ricardo Vaz Te and man of the match West Hams wonderkid, Ravel Morrison scoring a fantastic solo goal. It was a surprise to say the least but if we can bring a performance of the same quality to the lane this weekend, a similar result could be beckoning.
The Home fixture this season was a game in which the result could have fallen either way, both teams had a sending off, they both had relatively equal statistics and the hammers were unfortunate to lose 1-0 to a late Eric Dier goal.
Personnel
If you missed it, Andy Carroll is out for the rest of the season after a knee operation, Winston Reid and James Collins could return but Diego Poyet is still out. Reports on twitter appeared to show Cheikhou Kouyate was rushed to hospital midweek with an injury to his arm but he’s also responded on twitter to say he’s fine and will be available for the game this weekend.
Spurs currently have no important players out though could possibly rest a couple considering their Thursday evening match against Fiorentina.
In my opinion the encounter with Tottenham does not bode well for the hammers, with their strong form at home and the excellence of Lloris, Eriksen and especially Kane. However we pulled it out of the bag last season and there is a huge necessity to bounce back from last weekend. Allardyce is reportedly fighting for his hammers future, let’s see if he’s got what it takes to get back into the Europa league positions.
