please log in to view this image Sunday 20th March 4.30pm Premier League Tottenham Hotspur Stadium No injury news yet. Lineups for each side's last league game: Spurs: Lloris; Romero, Dier, Davies; Doherty, Bentancur, Hojbjerg, Reguilon; Kulusevski, Kane, Son. Subs: Gollini, Royal, Rodon, Sanchez, White, Winks, Bergwijn, Moura, Scarlett. League form: WLWWLW. West Ham: Fabianski; Johnson, Zouma, Dawson, Cresswell; Soucek, Rice, Lanzini; Fornals, Antonio, Benrahma. Subs: Areola, Fredericks, Diop, Masuaku, Kral, Noble, Yarmolenko, Oko-Flex, Perkins. League form: WDDWLW. Ref: Anthony ****ing Taylor. VAR: Paul ****ing Tierney. Are they taking the piss? TV: Sky Sports. How would you like to line up for this one?
Looking at that refereeing line-up....should we just not bother and go straight into the international break? Saves us the hassle.
One of the biggest games in recent memory against West Ham. Must win for both but pressure's on us being the home side. I think the team more or less picks itself assuming there are no further injuries after the Brighton game but I wonder if Conte will consider starting Son from the bench? The guy looks flat out at the moment and it's not helping him or the team, I do get from a manager's POV you want your best XI out there especially in the big games but if someone's well below 100% then is it really your best XI? The trouble I suppose is who starts in his place? Lucas on the left is often non-existent and Bergwijn just too often seems "meh" when he plays, albeit he hasn't had a ton of minutes. Tough one. Son probably does start though so I guess it's pointless speculating.
I don't think Son is tired I think he is out of form and we all know you cannot predict when that form will return but he will have to be playing to find it. Son is a major part of our team so much so that we have to put up with his lack of form and hope he finds it soon, just like we did with Kane.
I think I hate this match even more than the NLD, and I am not sure we are going to be celebrating tomorrow we all know about the current sequence of win/lose etc but its more than that. Moyes has made them a very good side, and they are all the things we hate playing against, they will be well organised, there will be no space in behind them and they will be on a massive high from getting through the other night. And you won't find me praising them much but fair play to them for that. If we are to win this match we have to start the match quickly and try to take any advantage we can from them having played 120 minutes on Thursday night by making them run and chase and try to maintain a high tempo, but the chances of this happening are slim. We will probably play into their hands by playing a slow possession game as they let us pass the ball around to our hearts content in front of them as they conserve energy knowing that our defence will have at least 1 error in it that will present them with the winner. I don't expect any changes though I would consider resting Sonny and telling Bergwijn to run at them at every opportunity.
I really ought to be grateful Spurs are playing better football under Conte...but instead I'm focused on their inability to play well under pressure. What's especially frustrating is that if this squad with this manager were average under pressure, they would be comfortably in fourth, maybe even pressing Chelsea for third. As it stands, I don't see a chance in hell of them getting a CL spot. While it's not uncommon for a team suddenly to turn into bottlers/choke artists, I can hardly remember the opposite happening.
The Goons are now level on games, and 6 pts ahead. This game has to be won. So result first, good performance is a bonus.
Tbh, with arsenal winning today I think our chances of top 4 are well gone. However we need EL as a minimum so must absolutely get 5th or 6th spot. Am going tomorrow (feeling tired as after a long week ... covid recovery is as bastardly hideous as watching us under JM and Nuno ) so praying for a good result. COYS
I have been to Spurs v West Ham 3 times. League Cup 1/4 final December 2013. League Cup October 2017 League game April 2019 We've lost the lot...
So either you or Moyes are going to lose an unwanted record this afternoon - and I hate to say it on your return to the stadium.........but it won't be you