The Hammers and Spurs do battle after the international break and it promises to be goals galore if previous games are to go by.
West Ham’s Mark Noble in action with Tottenham’s Ryan Mason, Tom Carroll and Ben Davies
One London derby down and just two more to go. Tottenham are in a bit of a rut with no wins in their last seven games and unthinkable to suggest; the international break seems to be welcome for them and next Saturday’s opponents.
A credible point against Arsenal and the return of goalscorer Harry Kane should mark the turnaround in fortunes of Spurs who have seen their title challenge stall in the wake of Liverpool and Chelsea’s resurgence.
West Ham’s recovery meanwhile has taken another setback with defeat to Everton and a draw with Stoke leaving Slaven Bilic’s side in 17th in the Premier League, halting their streak of three wins in a row including an EFL Cup victory over Chelsea.
Ravel Morrison (C) scores West Ham’s third goal against Tottenham
It’s the perfect time for a derby and a clash of the out-of-sorts but one that neither manager can really afford to lose.
Bilic is already under pressure following West Ham’s shocking start to the season while Mauricio Pochettino is starting to feel the heat after disappointing performances have been matched with disappointing results.
History has shown that anything can happen in this fixture but goals are a guarantee at White Hart Lane. So here are five of the best Premier League outings between West Ham and Tottenham.
1. West Ham 4-3 Tottenham, 24th February 1997
West Ham were on a five-match losing streak ahead of Spurs’ visit to the Boleyn Ground, which included a humiliating FA Cup defeat at home to Wrexham of the Second Division.
A Monday Night Football derby proved to be the perfect remedy for Harry Redknapp’s Hammers despite going behind through Teddy Sheringham’s looping header.
Julian Dicks and Paul Kitson showed they were also adept with their head to put West Ham ahead, before Darren Anderton made it all square and John Hartson made it a third Hammers header and 3-2 before half time.
David Howells equalised again for Spurs but then gave away a penalty for a foul on Hartson, allowing Dicks to step up and make it 4-3.
There was to be no third equaliser for Tottenham and West Ham held on for their first three win in eight games and move out of the relegation zone.
2. Tottenham 3-2 West Ham, 15th September 2002
An 89th minute winner from an unlikely source proved to be West Ham’s undoing at White Hart Lane back in 2002, but it took until the 62nd minute for the game to spring into life.
There were more injuries than goals as Tomas Repka and Chris Parry were forced off the field before Simon Davies gave Tottenham the lead for all of four minutes.
Future Spur Frederic Kanoute equalised and Robbie Keane then won the home side a penalty and a dismissal for Ian Pearce as Teddy Sheringham made no mistake from the spot.
The 10 men of West Ham fought back as Trevor Sinclair levelled the scores before defender Anthony Gardner strode forward and with a lucky deflection, wrong-footed David James to win it for the home side right at the death.
The Hammers were bottom of the table in September and come May had only risen to 18th, condemning them to relegation from the top flight.
3. West Ham 1-2 Tottenham, 7th May 2006
It was simple; Tottenham had to match or better Arsenal’s result on the final day of the season to finish fourth and qualify for the Champions League.
Only West Ham stood in their way, but unfortunately, so did some extremely dodgy lasagna which badly struck the majority of the Tottenham team.
Unable to call off the game, Spurs had to play through the bout and despite Jermain Defoe cancelling out Carl Fletcher’s long-range strike, a late Yossi Benayoun goal condemned Tottenham to fifth and allowed Arsenal to pip them to the post.
Not the first time a shambolic final game of the season has seen Arsenal leap above Tottenham…
4. West Ham 3-4 Spurs, 4th March 2007
Spurs somewhat had their revenge the following season in what would turn out to be one of the best and dramatic London derbies in Premier League history.
A relegation-threatened West Ham raced into a 2-0 lead courtesy of a young Mark Noble and Carlos Tevez’ excellent free kick.
After the break, Aaron Lennon won Tottenham a penalty after Lee Bowyer brought him down, allowing former Hammer Jermain Defoe to bring the visitors back into the game.
Lennon was involved again as his flick set up Teemu Tainio to level the scores and then what followed was madness.
Ex-Spurs flop Bobby Zamora thought he’d won three crucial points for West Ham with five minutes to go, heading in another Tevez’ free kick, before Dimitar Berbatov responded with an excellent free kick of his own in the 89th minute.
Then the drama. West Ham threw everyone forward in search of a winner and lost the ball. Spurs surged forward with Paul Stalteri releasing Defoe who was set on scoring an incredible winner himself.
His shot was parried by Rob Green but only into the path of Paul Stalteri who duly handed Tottenham all three points with just seconds to go.
Unbelievable.
5. West Ham 2-3 Tottenham, 25th February 2013
Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas Boas and players celebrate their third goal scored by Gareth Bale against West Ham
Spurs have a thing about scoring late winners against West Ham, but none will ever be as good as Gareth Bale’s strike at Upton Park.
The Welsh winger gave Tottenham the lead with a fizzing shot that Jussi Jaaskelainen couldn’t get down to, before Andy Carroll equalised from the penalty spot after Scott Parker was penalised for bringing down the big centre forward.
Joe Cole in his second spell then gave West Ham the lead and Matt Taylor missed a golden chance to make it 3-1 but was thwarted by Hugo Lloris.
Gylfi Sigurdsson emerged from the bench to punish Taylor and draw Spurs level after bundling in Bale’s free kick, while Jaaskelainen was in imperious form preventing Tottenham with snatching all three points.
Unfortunately for the former Bolton Wanderers shot-stopper, there was nothing he could do about Bale’s winner. Picking the ball up from 25 yards, he took aim and fired an unstoppable shot into the top corner to win it in the 90th minute for Spurs.
Bale would go on to finish with 26 goals for Spurs and earn a world-record move to Real Madrid in the summer for £86m.
So not too shabby from the man from Cardiff.
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