Tottenham Hotspur Match Preview
After West Ham United ruined what was a perfect start to the 2022/23 season for Tottenham Hotspur when they met back in August, the Hammers will now be looking to take three points off their fierce rivals at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this afternoon.
David Moyes’ side are currently in the relegation zone following Saturday’s results and will hope to bounce straight back out with a win here. They will want to build on their decent run of form in February and will go all out to try and beat Antonio Conte’s side in order to climb up the table.
Spurs have had a terrible week after they suffered a 4-1 defeat at Leicester City last weekend and then went on to lose the first-leg of their UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie against AC Milan five days ago.
West Ham haven’t won on the road since 28 August and collecting three points here would be an excellent way to rediscovering the form that served them so well away from Stratford during the early part of the last campaign.
It remains to be seen whether goalkeeper Alphonse Areola will be back on the bench since he sustained a hamstring injury after playing the Emirates FA Cup tie at Derby County back on 30 January, while Aaron Cresswell missed last weekend’s 1-1 home draw with Chelsea due to illness. The former Ipswich Town defender could be back in contention for the trip to North London.
Lucas Paquetá is unavailable for this encounter due to a shoulder injury suffered last weekend, while Nayef Aguerd will have to be assessed, following his own injury issue against Graham Potter’s side. Pablo Fornals or Tomáš Souček are options to come into the midfield and Ben Johnson could come into the starting line-up, should Aguerd not make the squad.
Danny Ings is still waiting for a first start in Claret and Blue since securing a move from Aston Villa, while Moyes hinted in his pre-match news conference on Friday that Gianluca Scamacca may make the squad and feature from the bench.
The match is a 4:30pm kick-off and for the fourth successive game, the Irons have been selected for live television coverage. It will be screened by Sky Sports from 4pm. The referee is Michael Oliver.