West Ham will travel to Wembley to face Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday evening in the Carabao Cup fourth-round clash.
Two teams with contrasting forms
Spurs recorded a 1-0 win against Barnsley in the previous round, winning five of their six games since - with the other being a 1-1 draw to Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in the Champions League. Such impressive form has seen the plaudits flood in for Mauricio Pochettino, whose side have shown immense balance at both ends of the ptich.
"It is important to keep momentum," said Pochettino. "If we rotate, we have to show that everyone can help and be a very important part of the team."
West Ham head into the game in poor form having suffered a disappointing result at the London Stadium against newly-promoted Brighton & Hove Albion which sees them lie 16th in the Premier League table. Naturally that's only increased pressure on Slaven Bilic's shoulders, with his side in desperate need for a positive cup result to lift spirits and enact revenge after their 3-2 defeat to Spurs in September.
"It's a massive game," said Antonio. "Even if it wasn't at Wembley it would be a massive game. Any game between West Ham and Spurs is massive, especially after they beat us at home, we need to go and beat them at their home. We've got to steady our minds, go there and perform," the forward stated.
Team News
Spurs midfielder Moussa Dembele is back in training after sustaining a hip injury and could therefore feature on Wednesday evening while Victor Wanyama continues his recovery from a knee injury.
Danny Rose is in line for a start while Erik Lamela is unavailable with a long-term hip issue.
Meanwhile, Adrian will start in goal for West Ham, with Slaven Bilic confirming his involvement during his pre-match press conference. However, Michael Antonio misses out due to a rib injury he sustained against Brighton. Andy Carroll is back in contention after a one-match suspension while James Collins and Diafra Sakho are back in training but unlikely to feature.
Prediction
Tottenham are in terrific form heading into the match, having swept Liverpool aside on Sunday with relative ease. Meanwhile, West Ham are struggling to get going this season with pressure only increasing on Slaven Bilic.
They looked like they'd made good business during the summer but it just hasn't clicked and it'll be interesting to see how Bilic sets his side up - if he goes for a strong team and they suffer a defeat it'll result in a huge loss of confidence.
I think Spurs will have an easy time of it on Wednesday night.