West Ham vs Tottenham Preview, Team News, Likely Line-Ups, Key Man + Prediction

Tottenham Hotspur start the new season with a tricky trip to Upton Park to face London rivals West Ham on Saturday afternoon.

Mauricio Pochettino will take charge of his first competitive game since being installed as Tim Sherwood’s permanent replacement in the summer.

The Argentinean guided Southampton to an impressive eighth-placed finish last season and his attractive brand of football caught the eye of Spurs supremo Daniel Levy.

Pochettino has enjoyed an unbeaten pre-season so he’ll be hoping to take that kind of form into the new season with a win against West Ham.

The Hammers won all three games against Spurs last season, doing the league double as well as progressing in the Capital One Cup, but Sam Allardyce has endured a frustrating pre-season that’s led to speculation he could be facing the chop already, so he’ll be desperate to ease the pressure with a positive result tomorrow.

Team News

West Ham will have to make do without striker Andy Carroll after he picked up an ankle injury, while summer signing Enner Valencia is struggling to shake off an ankle problem, so Mauro Zarate is likely to start in attack.

Matt Jarvis has been ruled out but new signings Aaron Cresswell, Cheikhou Kouyate and Diego Poyet are all pushing to make their debuts.

However, on loan Arsenal defender Carl Jenkinson is denied the chance to face Spurs after suffering a hamstring problem in pre-season.

Tottenham have a number of fitness doubts ahead of the game with Jan Vertonghen, Mousa Dembele and Nacer Chadli expected to miss out after returning late from their World Cup exploits.

Andros Townsend is in line to feature after recovering from an ankle injury and he should be joined in the starting eleven by Kyle Walker and Michael Dawson, with the pair expected to shake off knocks.

New signings Eric Dier and Michel Vorm are likely to be on the bench, but Ben Davies should make his debut at left-back.

Likely Line-Ups

Key Man

Christian Eriksen: The Dane enjoyed an excellent debut season in the Premier League and all eyes will be on him to continue that form into the new campaign.

Predicted Score

West Ham 1-2 Tottenham: Despite missing several first team players, Spurs should have enough to edge this one.

What team would you like to see start and what’s your predicted score? Share your views below.