West Ham – Tottenham (Premier League)
West Ham and Tottenham face each other this Friday night, at Olympic Stadium (London). This is a match of Premier League´s 36th round. Unbeaten in their last 4 Premier League matches, West ham arrive here full of confidence and 7 points clear of the relegation zone. Tottenham, on their turn, after beating Arsenal (2-0), are on a run of 9 consecutive wins in the league.
West Ham sit in 15th position in the table with 39 points, which comes from 10 victories, 9 draws and 16 defeats, with 44 goals scored and 59 goals conceded. Lately, the team has been presenting mixed results, since in their last 5 official matches, in this competition, they have won 1, drew 4 and lost the other one. This sequence of results started with a 3-0 away loss against Arsenal, that was followed by a 1-0 home win against Swansea City, a 2-2 away draw against Sunderland, a 0-0 home draw against Everton, and as mentioned before a 0-0 away draw against Stoke city.
At home in the Premier league, so far, the team has played 17 matches: won 6, drew 4 and lost 7, that is, they haven’t been making good use of the home advantage. In addition, they have just 18 goals scored and 27 conceded. However they have kept a clean sheet in their last 2 home matches. Definitely, it’s at home that this group led by Slaven Bilić is stronger and has better performances, since they have only lost 7 of their last 17 home matches.
Ogbonna, Pedro Obiang and Michail Antonio are out, due to injury. Andy Carroll, Diafra Sakho and Masuaki are questionable players.
Probable Lineup: Adrián – Fonte, Reid, Collins – Fernandes, Kouyaté, Nordtveit, Cresswell – Lanzini – Ayew, Calleri.
Tottenham sit in 2nd position in the table with 77 points, only 4 points below the 1st place Chelsea, which comes from 23 victories, 8 draws and 3 defeats, with 71 goals scored and 22 goals conceded. Spurs have been in great form this season. Not only they have won their last 9 consecutive matches in the league but also they haven’t conceded a goal in their last 4. In their last 5 official matches, in this competition, they have 14 goals scored and just 1 conceded. This sequence of results started with a 1-3 away win against Swansea City, that was followed by a 4-0 home win against Watford, a 4-0 home win against Bournemouth, a 0-1 away win against Crystal palace, and as mentioned before a 2-0 home win against Arsenal.
Away from home, in this competition, so far, the team has played 16 matches: won 7, drew 6 and lost 3, that is, they have also been showing some good performances out of theirs domains. In addition, they have scored consistently: they have 26 goals scored and just 14 conceded.
With the best defense and one of the best attacks in the league, Spurs will try to win this match, 3 crucial points, in order to keep the title race alive.
Erik Lamela, Harry Winkas and Carter-Wickers are out due to injury.
Probable Lineup: Lloris – Trippier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Davies – Dier, Wanyama – Son, Erikssen, Alli – Kane.
With stronger motivation and better arguments Tottenham will play a very offensive football full of intensity from start to finish, in order to get these 3 precious points and keep chasing Chelsea for the title race.