Tottenham Hotspur, sitting ninth, will be back in action against 12th placed West Ham United when Premier League action returns. The early kickoff on Saturday sees Spurs host the Hammers with the two separated by as many points. This preview will also feature a prediction for the match.
The last activity before the international break was sobering for Tottenham, playing away at Brighton. Their 2-0 first half lead was wiped away in 21 second half minutes, leaving them stunned in a 3-2 defeat.
That loss ended their five-match winning run across all competitions. Returning home gives them a golden chance to try and bounce back, having won the last two matches they hosted.
However, the last time they welcomed West Ham United, Spurs lost.
West Ham United are unbeaten in their last two matches against Tottenham, a run they will want to extend here. This match will mark the fifth time they face a London team already in this campaign.
West Ham have only won once in the earlier four derbies this season – against Crystal Palace on Match Day 2. They will definitely be charged up for this one, coming from a 4-1 win against newly promoted Ipswich Town.
The visitors have a challenge to deal with though – after beating Palace, they haven't managed another league clean sheet. At this point of the campaign, though they’ve only failed to score in one league game. That happened to be in a derby; a 3-0 loss to Chelsea.
Two sides with good attacks but porous defences face off here. The hosts have failed to score only once this season, while they managed three clean sheets only in 10 matches. West Ham United carry an almost similar run. They have one clean sheet in seven league matches, while only failing to score once in the season.
Back to the hosts, they don’t keep many clean sheets when playing at home in the league. Our prediction for the Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham United match is for both teams to score.