Key events
Our pre-match postbag is teeming with an email. Here it is! “Between Son, Johnson, Maddison, Richarlison and Emerson on the team sheet, Spurs are giving the Iceland national team a run for their money. Thunderclap please!” OK ladies and gentlemen, let’s do what the man says and put our hands together for Peter Oh. Húh!
David Moyes takes his turn to chat with the good folk of TNT. “Hopefully we can get the game from Saturday out of our system and show what we can do tonight … with the short turnaround it’s hard to get too much work done … when we were winning [at Newcastle] I’d have liked us to have been a bit tougher … we’ve been conceding a few goals which we have to eradicate … Tottenham’s style is very good … they’re an exciting team … we have to make sure to turn the ball over and cause problems on the counter … we’re up against a team who are very good in possession … when you’re a player and you’ve had a [bad] result, you want to come out and get the chance to show you can do it … they’re getting that opportunity tonight … a great game to play in, a big London derby, so let’s hope we turn up and show what we can do.”
Ange Postecoglou talks to TNT Sports. “It’s a good opportunity to freshen our team up … it’ll be a tough challenge tonight … the lads have pace which I think we’ll need … I’m a little bit of an outsider but I’m well informed about the rivalry between the clubs … I’m looking forward to it tonight … we’ve got to be really wary but our football is about imposing ourselves … our press and hard work has been pretty good … Son [who is making his 400th appearance for Spurs tonight] is outstanding and will go down as a legend at our club … he’s got such high standards … he’s an outstanding person as well … goals, assists and when you need them, too … I’m not dismissing Champions League football but I don’t want to see us making that the end goal and thinking it’s going to help us next year … ultimately the only thing that gives us is a platform to improve … I want us to finish the season strong and keep improving, then strengthen in the off-season … if we finish the season strong that sets us up for a bigger year next year.”
A reminder, not that you need it, but here it is anyway, that four other Premier League matches are being played this evening. A couple of them are starting right about now, and John Brewin has all you need to know. Don’t forget to come back here, though. Our tech experts recommend the implementation of a two-tab-toggling reading system.
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Newcastle v Fulham (7.30pm)
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Nottingham Forest v Fulham (7.30pm)
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Bournemouth v Crystal Palace (7.45pm)
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Burnley v Wolves (7.45pm)
West Ham make just one change to their starting line-up in the wake of the 4-3 defeat at Newcastle. Alphonse Areola hasn’t recovered from the groin injury that ended his day prematurely at St James’ Park; Lukasz Fabianski continues to stand in. Poor old Kalvin Phillips, chided and derided, can’t catch a break right now: he’s on the subs’ bench again.
Spurs make three changes after their narrow 2-1 win over Luton Town. Micky Van de Ven, Rodrigo Bentancur and Brennan Johnson get the nod ahead of Radu Dragusin, Pape Matar Sarr and Dejan Kulusevsk, all of whom drop to the bench.
The teams
West Ham United: Fabianski, Coufal, Mavropanos, Zouma, Emerson Palmieri, Soucek, Ward-Prowse, Bowen, Lucas Paqueta, Kudus, Antonio.
Subs: Johnson, Cresswell, Phillips, Cornet, Ings, Ogbonna, Earthy, Mubama, Anang.
Tottenham Hotspur: Vicario, Porro, Romero, van de Ven, Udogie, Bissouma, Bentancur, Johnson, Maddison, Werner, Son.
Subs: Hojbjerg, Dragusin, Richarlison, Emerson, Lo Celso, Kulusevski, Sarr, Davies, Austin.
Referee: John Brooks (Leicestershire).
Preamble
These two teams, boy oh boy. So let’s see. West Ham are coming off the back of a match they managed to lose despite having been 3-1 up with 13 minutes to play; Spurs meanwhile lost their last away fixture 3-0, and won the one preceding that by four goals. So good luck predicting which way tonight’s game is going to go. Chances are, though, it’ll be a doozy. Kick off at the London Stadium is 8.15pm. Mayhem ahoy! It’s on!