The league we love the most is back on our screens for the second time in just a number of days, with a fierce London Derby the next adventure for these two sides, as the Premier League run in ignites.
On the weekend, West Ham capitulated at St James' Park in the early kick off. They were leading 1-3 with less than a quarter of an hour to play, but ended up losing 4-3 conceding to a Harvey Barnes pearler in the ninety-first-minute. Tottenham Hotspur, on the other hand, produced a comeback. Heung-Min Son scored a winner in the final five minutes of their home tie with Luton to secure the points.
The Lilywhites last victory at this ground came in November 2019, in Jose Mourinho's first match as their Head Coach, but the hosts have only won once against tomorrow's opposition in their previous five meetings.
This cracking derby match never fails to live up to the hype, and with both sides continuing their hunt to be playing European football next season, this could make for a tasty matchup under the lights in East London.
West Ham
The Hammers will once again be without Edson Alvarez. The Mexican is serving the final match of his two-game suspension, after he received his tenth yellow card off the season in the 1-1 draw at home to Aston Villa before the international break.
Alphonse Areola, who came off at half time at Newcastle United, is set for a spell on the sidelines due to a groin injury, whilst Nayef Aguerd, who missed that trip to the North East, will be assessed in the build up to Tuesday's derby.
"Apart from that, we've just got a couple of knocks here and there, and similarly we'll have to make a call on those tomorrow," David Moyes told the press.
Tottenham Hotspur
In his press conference on Monday afternoon, Ange Postecoglou confirmed that everyone came through the weekend victory at home to Luton "unscathed."
Micky van de Ven, who was named an unused substitute on Saturday, could come back into the starting lineup after recovering from a hamstring injury that he picked up prior to the international break.
Brennan Johnson, who came off the bench and impressed will be looking to earn himself a start, whilst Rodrigo Bentancur and Giovani Lo Celso could also come into the midfield after impressing during their half an hour cameos.
Fraser Forster (foot), Ryan Sessegnion (hamstring) and Manor Solomon (meniscus) will once again be missing - they are all long-term absentees.
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Likely lineups
West Ham (4-2-3-1): Fabianski (GK); Coufal, Mavropanos, Zouma (C), Emerson; Ward-Prowse, Soucek; Bowen, Paqueta, Kudus; Antonio.
Tottenham Hotspur (4-3-3): Vicario (GK); Pedro Porro, Romero, van de Ven, Udogie; Bentancur, Sarr, Maddison; Johnson, Son, Werner.
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Key players
West Ham - Mohamed Kudus and Jarred Bowen
The Ghanian, who has hit fifteen goals and five assists in thirty-six appearances in a claret and blue shirt, could be the match-winner under the lights on Tuesday.
Thanks to his pace, precision and trickery, Mohamed Kudus is a defender's nightmare. Going one-on-one against Pedro Porro at the London Stadium, the former Ajax attacker could be in luck. Despite being an incredible attacking full back, the Spaniard does have his defensive frailties. If Kudus can exploit those, it could be a very difficult night for Porro, who lost 1-0 at the London Stadium during the international break with Spain.
'Ange Ball' is heavily focused on the full backs inverting into the middle of the park, meaning that there will be heaps of space for Kudus on the counter attack.
The same goes for Jarred Bowen down The Hammers' right-hand side. The Englishman scored in the reverse fixture and will be hoping to do the same when the two sides face off on Tuesday night. We've seen Destiny Udogie struggle at times this season and Bowen, who was once of interest to Tottenham, could harm them.
The former Hull City and Hereford winger has hit the target on nineteen occasions this season, whilst also registering eight assists in all competitions. A goal in this tie would see him go joint-second in the Premier League 23/24 goalscoring charts - level with; Mohamed Salah, Ollie Watkins and Dominic Solanke and just two off Erling Haaland.
It was a great day for the dynamic duo on Saturday at St James' Park! Bowen assisted Kudus for the second goal, before the pair linked up to create the third goal, with Kudus finding Bowen who finished past Martin Dubrvaka into the bottom corner.
Tottenham Hotspur - Yves Bissouma
If selected, the Malian will prove to be a crucial figure in this tie.
A tough-tackling, skilful creator, on his day, Yves Bissouma can be one of the best box to box midfielders in the Premier League. In the first seven games of the season, prior to his red card at Luton Town, Bissouma was one of the league's most in-form players.
He was a key cog in the Tottenham midfield, but since that moment of madness in October, he has found it hard to maintain consistency in his performances. He was sent off for a second time in the win at Nottingham Forest, before he left for AFCON in January - summing up his topsy-turvy season. Despite this, we believe the former-Brighton man can be crucial to his side winning at the London Stadium.
West Ham love to sit back, suck up the pressure and launch explosive counter-attacks on their enemy. Unless David Moyes has any tricks up his sleeve, this is how we expect his side to play on Tuesday. Bissouma will need to be ready to anticipate the swift counter-attacks and stop the opposition from progressing.
If Bissouma is to start, we don't expect him to finish the game. Out of twenty-one appearances this season, he's only completed the full game on nine occasions. He also has six yellow cards and two red cards to his name, so if he feels the need to commit a tactical foul, he certainly won't be afraid.
Should the £35m man not be at his best, we expect West Ham to hit the visitors on the counter and capitalise on it, just like we saw in December.
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Last time out
An incredible tactical performance from David Moyes' side saw them take all three points back to East London, when the two sides met in the reverse fixture in December.
With just eleven minutes on the clock, Cristian Romero - making his return after a three-game ban - rose highest to divert a Pedro Porro corner goal-wards and give his side the perfect start to the clash in North London!
Giovani Lo Celso stung the palms of Lukasz Fabianksi with a volley, before Kurt Zouma had his blushes spared by the frame of the goal, as he diverted a cross from the Argentine midfielder towards his own net. The Hammers' best chance of the half fell to left back Emerson, he placed his header well wide of Guglielmo Vicario's goal, despite having all the time in the world.
After the restart for the second half, the contest played out very differently. With only seven second half minutes on the clock, Jarred Bowen sent the 3,000 travelling West Ham fans into utter delirium! He capitalised on a lucky ricochet. A long-range effort from Mohamed Kudus bounced off Romero and then Ben Davies, before falling to Bowen who placed it into the roof of the net from six-yards out.
Shortly after being pegged back, Richardson wasted a golden opportunity. A sumptuous delivery from Pedro Porro was greeted in the air by the back-pedalling Brazilian, but he headed wide of the net.
With a quarter of an hour remaining, disaster struck for Tottenham. Destiny Udogie's back pass fell short, and Vicario could only smother it into the path of James Ward-Prowse. He initially hit the post with the first attempt, but the rebound fell to the set-piece specialist and he tapped it home into an empty net.
Despite dominating the large majority of the battle, it was the hosts who were left bitterly disappointed after they were defeated by a David Moyes masterclass.
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Match details
Where is the game being played?
This London Derby clash will take place at the London Stadium.
What time is kick off?
Kick off for this match has been set for 20:15 BST.
How can I watch the game?
The match has been selected for live television broadcast and will be available to watch live on TNT Sports. For those with TNT Sports accounts who are unable to watch on TV, you will be able to stream the match on the Discovery+ app.
