West Ham Fan View: 3 things to look out for against Tottenham
West Ham face Tottenham on Thursday in what will be our seventh London derby of the season. Will we see a repeat of the loss in the Premier League or the win over them in the Carabao Cup? Here are three things to look out for…
Can we repeat our big game performance under David Moyes?
Tottenham are in great form having scored 8 goals in their last 2 games and despite our recent performances, we will go into this game confident. We have seen over recent seasons that form goes out of the window when we face Tottenham and we expect it to be the same on Thursday.
READ MORE: West Ham Fan View: Does Joe Hart have a future with the Hammers?
When David Moyes first came, he faced a nightmare fixture list with games against Manchester City, Chelsea, and Arsenal all in a row. We were all surprised with how we performed in these big games. 4 points out of 7 were picked up and it was our defensive organisation which impressed with 2 clean sheets from 3.
This was a stark contrast to our performances under Slaven Bilic earlier in the season where we conceded 11 goals in 3 games against top-six sides. So can we repeat our big game form under Moyes on Thursday?
Can we stop Harry Kane?
Alvaro Morata and Eden Hazard did not score against us. Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil did not score against us. But Harry Kane is the best striker in the world right now and he is in the form of his life having finished as the leading goalscorer in Europe for 2017.
READ MORE: West Ham Fan View: Why Slaven Bilic had to go
Kane scored twice against us earlier in the season and Moyes is likely to play with two defensive midfielders in an attempt to stop the service to Kane. Counter-attacks will be crucial but with Michail Antonio a doubt for the game, we are lacking pace on the break and this may harm us.
An exciting London derby?
We have faced Tottenham twice this season and both games were filled with goals with 10 scored. But as we have seen in some games already this Christmas, teams are starting to accumulate more injuries and the intensity levels are dropping. This will be our second game in the space of three days and it remains to be seen whether there is a fast pace to the game or not.
