Tottenham Hotspur travel across London to Upton Park on Wednesday to play West Ham in a huge London Derby.
Tottenham are coming off a massive comeback victory against Swansea on Sunday, while West Ham beat Sunderland earlier that Saturday.
Tom Carroll is back and available for selection for Maurico Pochettino’s side, but Mousa Dembélé, Jan Vertoghen, and Clinton N’Jie are still out. Dele Alli will have a late fitness test, after injuring his foot in warmups against Swansea. Pochettino won’t risk starting the 19-year-old if he isn’t deemed fully fit. Alli will need to be ready for Arsenal in the coming days.
Spurs trounced the Hammers in their last meeting at White Hart Lane, but West Ham were without Dimitri Payet, and looked out of place without him dictating their movement.
Both these sides have been two of the hottest clubs in the Premier League this season and we should witness an entertaining and passionate match. With that being said, here’s the lineup I think Pochettino will be going with.
Goalie
Hugo Lloris will be in net on Wednesday after a great performance against Swansea on Sunday.
Defence
Kieran Trippier will start in place of Kyle Walker and Ben Davies will start for Danny Rose. Pochettino rotates his fullbacks every match since in his system they’re required to get up and down the pitch and cover a lot of ground.
This has worked well as both Trippier and Davies have emerged as first-team quality fullbacks. Toby Alderweireld and Kevin Wimmer will be the centre-backs and will look to stop big target-man Andy Carroll.
Midfield
Eric Dier will get the start as the holding midfielder and will have the tough task of dealing with Dimitri Payet, who’s one of the best centre-attacking midfielders in the Premier League. The key matchup, for me, is the one between Dier and Payet. Ryan Mason should start just above Eric Dier as he’s fully rested after just coming on as a substitute against Swansea. Dembélé not being available is a huge loss to Spurs’ midifield.
In the attacking midfield Christian Eriksen should start as the centre-attacking midfielder with Nacer Chadli to his left and Erik Lamela on his right. Eriksen was brilliant against the Swans on Sunday and will look to continue his run of form. Same with Nacer Chadli, who came on equalized for Spurs against Swansea. That should earn him a start on Wednesday, with Alli being questionable. The Belgian has six goals and two assists in his last 10 competitions.
Striker
Harry Kane will be the lone striker up top and will look to break down the well fortified West Ham backline.
The Hammers are tough to beat at home and have not lost a match at home since losing to Bournemouth in August. I wouldn’t be surprised if this match ends in a draw. A win for Spurs however would give them a ton of momentum going into Saturday’s match against Arsenal. I think if Tottenham can beat West Ham on Wednesday, they will be, if they’re not already, the favourites to win the Premier League.
What’s your starting lineup for Spurs look like, and what do you think the result will be?
(4-2-3-1)
Via – Lineup Builder
