West Ham United vs Tottenham Hotspur. Premier League.
London StadiumAttendance56,988.
Saturday 23 September 2017 11:14, UK
West Ham host Tottenham in a crackerjack of a London derby, live on Sky Sports Premier League on Saturday lunchtime.
There is little love lost between the rivals - a dislike which was only further enhanced by West Ham's 1-0 victory over Spurs last season which ended their Premier League title challenge.
In fact, the Hammers have defeated Tottenham 14 times in the Premier League; their highest tally of wins against a single opponent in the competition.
They come into this clash as underdogs though against a strong travelling Spurs side, who know a win would equal a club record of five successive Premier League away wins.
This included a richly impressive 3-0 win over Everton in their previous away game, which took their tally to 18 goals in their last four away league games on the road.
West Ham midfielders Manuel Lanzini and Pedro Obiang will miss the visit of Tottenham.
Lanzini resumed training on Thursday after a knee injury but will not be risked and Obiang picked up a knock against West Brom last weekend.
Defender James Collins is the only other absentee with an ankle problem.
Tottenham defender Ben Davies has shaken off an ankle injury in time for Saturday's game.
Davies is expected to return along with Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen, Hugo Lloris and Toby Alderweireld, who were all rested for the Carabao Cup win over Barnsley on Tuesday.
Danny Rose and Victor Wanyama, however, are both out with knee injuries while Erik Lamela is still recovering from a hip problem.
Tottenham have lost three of their last four Premier League trips to West Ham (W1 D0 L3) and have failed to score in each of these three defeats.
The Hammers won their last home game in the Premier League (2-0 vs Huddersfield) - only on one previous occasion have they sealed successive home wins at the London Stadium; December 2016.
Tottenham have lost their last two London derbies in the Premier League (0-1 v West Ham in May & 1-2 v Chelsea in August) - they haven't lost three in a row in the league since August 2005.
Spurs are looking to win their opening three away games in a league season for the first time since 1991-92.
Since the start of 2015-16, Spurs have won the most matches (47) and points (164) in the Premier League.
Overall, Kane has scored 19 goals in 28 Premier League London derbies for Tottenham Hotspur.
Of players to have scored at least 10 Premier League London derby goals, only Thierry Henry (114 mins) has a better average minutes per goal ratio in these fixtures than Harry Kane (120 mins).
Lanzini has scored nine of his 14 Premier League goals against London clubs - including three in his last four appearances against Spurs in the competition.
Despite playing his final Premier League game for West Ham on January 2nd 2017, no Hammers' player has assisted (6) or created as many goalscoring chances (74) as Dimitri Payet since the start of 2016-17 in the competition.
West Ham have turned a corner after good performances against Huddersfield and West Brom but I can't look past Tottenham here.
They have been very good away from home - what they did at Everton was brilliant - and I can see them scoring three again.
The Hammers were good against Huddersfield and solid at The Hawthorns but Tottenham are a cut above both. Spurs need to sort out their Wembley problem because it will ruin their Premier League chances if they aren't careful.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-3 (Sky Bet odds 11/1)
Tottenham are Sky Bet's 8/13 favourites for the victory with West Ham up against odds of 17/4, while the draw is priced at 3/1. Mauricio Pochettino's men were nudged out from 14/1 to 16/1 for the title following their Swansea stalemate, while the Hammers are currently 4/1 to face the drop.
Kane is 5/2 to extend his excellent London derby record by opening the scoring, while Javier Hernandez is considered the hosts' main threat at 13/2 in the first goalscorer betting.
