Premier League: Hammers Have a Win, Now Can They Beat Spurs?

West Ham United vs Tottenham Hotspur

Premier League action comes to East London on Wednesday in a full midweek programme as Tottenham visit their old mates West Ham at the London Stadium.

Antonio Conte’s Spurs have made a strong start to the campaign and are just two points off the top, while West Ham started with three defeats before finally breaking their duck on Sunday.

The two teams have had contrasting starts but David Moyes’ West Ham have been very strong over the past two campaigns, and his talented squad will be confident of climbing the table fairly quickly. It all adds up to a fascinating contest, with the hosts trying to make up lost time against a highly ambitious opponent.    

Talking Points

West Ham have lift off

After a difficult opening to the campaign a 1-0 win away to Aston Villa has lifted the mood around the London Stadium as the Hammers climbed out of the bottom three. Of course these are early days but you don’t want to be down there too long. Pablo Fornals had a bit of luck with his 74^thminute winner which took a deflection to beat Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez. It was their first goal of the campaign, but sometimes you need that bit of luck to climb out of a rut.

In a midfield three, with the powerhouses Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek, Fornals can provide creativity and goal chances with his pace and vision, and with similar players such as Manuel Lanzini and Maxwell Cornet on the bench, Moyes has options if he is chasing a game. The Hammers boss will hope that summer signing Gianluca Scamacca will soon get off the mark as he is seen as the natural successor to experienced striker Michail Antonio.

Scamacca has already scored twice for West Ham in the Europa Conference qualifiers. Two wins over Viborg are all well and good, but the Hammers lost 2-0 to Brighton on their last league game at home and their fans will do all they can to make the London Stadium a fortress when the big guns come to town.   

Fast start for Kane

He has been Tottenham’s best striker for almost a decade now and is one of the best finishers in world football. But a peculiarity about Harry Kane’s form in recent seasons is that he hasn’t always been quick out of the blocks. In the 2021/22 campaign he was particularly quiet before Christmas, before racking up the goals in the second half of the season.   

Well folks, this time around the England man has kicked off at a spectacular rate, bagging four goals in four games. Kane scored two and missed a penalty in Sunday’s win over Nottingham Forest and he has made a fine start in the race for the 2022/23 Golden Boot, with four goals.

But he is already two behind Manchester City’s Erling Braut Haaland while, incredibly, Mo Salah didn’t get on the score sheet during Liverpool’s 9-0 destruction of Bournemouth.

Kane’s double on Sunday made it 201 career goals and he was thwarted from the penalty spot for the first time in 22 attempts as Forest keeper Dean Henderson made the save.  

His first goal against Forest was created by the ever improving Dejan Kulusevski and his second by Richarlison who continues to delight one moment and infuriate the next. The Brazilian overstepped the line with his showboating at 2-0, and was wiped out by Forest full back Brennan Johnson who earned a yellow card and the admiration of the vast majority in the Nottingham crowd.

Richarlison can be a great attacking asset but he is a red card waiting to happen.

Spurs’ north London rivals, Arsenal, are top of the league after beating Fulham 2-1 and Conte will have no problem in motivating his men to overhaul the Gunners, as that is priority number one for their fans. The Premier League 2022 betting odds reckon they could both finish in a top four place; but Chelsea will have plenty to say about that.     

History

There’s been a mighty tussle between these two London rivals in the Premier League era with the head to heads giving Tottenham a lead of 29 to 19 wins, while there have been ten draws in all competitions since 1993.

West Ham won the corresponding fixture 1-0 last season as a goal from Michail Antonio took the Hammers up to fourth place, though Spurs later beat their London neighbours twice at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.  

Both teams come into the game with three wins in the last four in all competitions though Spurs have been significantly better in the league, ten points putting them in third place while West Ham sit in 16^th with three.    

Betting Tip

At SBOTOP odds of 3.67 West Ham are outsiders for this game with Spurs at 1.92 and it promises to be a hard fought game. A draw at a price of 3.25 will be a popular bet and a 1-1 draw at odds of 5.99 is the most likely score line.  

 

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