Home improvements

From one atmosphere vacuum to another. Just when Spurs fans had grown weary of the soulless environs of Wembley stadium; emotionally fatigued after three games in a week huddled in its limp, corporate embrace. They check the fixture list and—oh look!—it’s off to the London Stadium instead.

Joy.

In Wembley’s defence, at least it was built for the purposes of watching football. West Ham’s adopted Stratford home was designed with the flight paths of javelins in mind, rather than the viewing pleasure of Danny Dyer and his pals.

‘It will never be Upton Park’, admitted Irons’ boss Slaven Bilic, after their 2-0 win over Huddersfield 10 days ago, ‘but that doesn’t mean it can’t be our home.’

‘We cannot wait to play here again,’ he continued, rather unconvincingly.

Of course, there would’ve been Tottenham supporters telling themselves the exact same thing after the North London club’s pulsating win over Dortmund last week. A performance which appeared to thaw the widespread contempt toward the national stadium— for a few days, at least. But deep down, they know, like West Ham fans, it will never be home.

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Bilic the sabatouer

Back to the football itself. Our London rivals took great pleasure in their 1-0 victory over us back in May. Indeed, there appears to be nothing they enjoy more than to sabotage our hopeless stabs at glory.

Manuel Lanzini’s winner on the hour mark all but terminated Spurs’ title bid that evening, which was already flailing badly. The claret and blue celebrations rang into the night. Players hugged, fans sang, Bilic fist pumped the air. They’d done it. They’d definitely done something.

Unfortunately for the brave followers of West Ham, the Croatian coach appears to have directed his mind to sabotaging their own season this time around. Which makes for a novel change. The Hammers hover just above the relegation zone, level on points with Everton. While it’s early days, there was nothing about their recent 3-0 defeat against Newcastle that suggested they’d learned any lessons from last year.

‘It is our enemy, I understand very well that,’ said a not-at-all-bitter Mauricio Pochettino in his press conference yesterday.

Davies returns

For Spurs there’s some positive news on the injury front. While long-termers Erik Lamela and Danny Rose remain unfit for purpose (along with Victor Wanyama), Ben Davies is expected to return to first team action.

Heung-min Son is a wonderful player but the experiment which has occasionally seen him fill in at LWB, most memorably in the FA Cup semi against Chelsea, needs to be sent back to the lab for further testing. It’s an accident waiting to happen.

Ben Davies on the other hand. Well he’s this season’s surprise package and it’ll be a relief to see him back in the fold.