Tottenham Hotspur will look to continue their fine form when they host West Ham United at White Hart Lane on Sunday, 6 October.
The North Londoners mitigated the loss of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid by bringing in the likes of Christian Eriksen, Erik Lamela, Etienne Capoue, Nacer Chadli, Paulinho, Roberto Soldado and Vlad Chiriches during the summer transfer window.
Although Spurs spent over €120 million on the aforementioned seven players, the club managed to balance their books by cashing in on Bale, Clint Dempsey, Massimo Luongo, Tom Huddlestone, Scott Parker, Steven Caulker and Tom Huddlestone.
In fact, Tottenham yielded a net gain of about €5 million in the transfer market, much to the credit of the club’s technical director Franco Baldini.
Spurs’ added depth has given Andre Villas-Boas an embarrassment of riches at every position, allowing the club to compete at the highest level in all competitions.
Subsequently, the Portuguese was able to rest a number of the club’s regular starters against Anzhi Makhachkala in midweek.
That’s bad news for West Ham, who have won just two points from a possible 15 in their last five league matches.
Team News
Danny Rose (toe) is a 50-50 chance to feature for the hosts, while Aaron Lennon (foot), Emmanuel Adebayor (illness), Etienne Capoue (ankle) and Younes Kaboul (abductor) have been ruled out of Sunday’s clash.
Andy Carroll (heel) is out for the visitors, but Joe Cole (hamstring) may be available and is a game-time decision.
Possible Starting Lineups
Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris; Walker, Dawson, Vertonghen, Naughton; Dembele, Paulinho; Chadli, Eriksen, Sigurdsson; Soldado.
West Ham United: Jaaskelainen; Demel, Tomkins, Reid, Rat; Diame, Noble; Jarvis, Nolan, Downing; Maíga.
Quotes
Andre Villas-Boas: “From Friday to Saturday we will sleep well and recover the players for West Ham. We will just prepare for that game on the day of the game, give the players information on the day of the game.”
Sam Allardyce on the Hammers’ 1-0 defeat to Hull City last week: “Our failing is not that we have lacked chances. What we have lacked is taking them and our players can’t keep missing them.
“We had 19 attempts on goal away from home in the Premier League last week. We dominated the game but failed to score. All the other players getting these chances have failed to put one in the net, and that’s why we’re suffering the consequences.
We’ve always been a team who have shared the goals out, but we’re not doing that at the moment.”
Betting Odds
Tottenham Hotspur (4/9); West Ham United (15/2); Draw (15/4)
Match Prediction
Tottenham 2 – West Ham 0 (6/1)
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