Tottenham Hotspur head into their London derby with West Ham United on Tuesday night looking to end a four-match winless streak in the Premier League.
Meanwhile, the Hammers have suffered four defeats in five outings, leaving David Moyes's team desperately needing to get more points on the board if they are to avoid a relegation scrap.
Match preview
© Reuters
Having held a slender lead over Manchester United for so long on Friday night, Jose Mourinho was visibly frustrated after only claiming a draw against his former club.
Nevertheless, with it being their first game back after the enforced break and having survived a VAR call regarding a second spot kick, Spurs have the platform to kick on during their closing eight games of the season.
With his team down in eighth position, Mourinho will acknowledge that only wins will do at this stage of the campaign if they want to launch any kind of late charge towards the top four.
However, the returns of Steven Bergwijn, Son Heung-min and Harry Kane undoubtedly provide the North Londoners with an extra edge in the final third, something which was lacking before the coronavirus pandemic.
Although the latter of that trio looked off the pace against United, it represented a much-needed 90 minutes for the England international, who remains the club's top goalscorer in the Premier League despite missing two-and-a-half months of action with a hamstring injury.
From West Ham's perspective, Moyes would have been desperately disappointed with how his side performed against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday evening.
For large parts of the contest, the Hammers barely got out of first gear, allowing the visitors to dictate the pace of play and ultimately earn a deserved 2-0 triumph.
The below-par display came on the back of several encouraging showings before lockdown, something which will only add to Moyes's frustration at a time when his side are coming under increasing pressure at the bottom of the table.
That said, despite the difficultly of facing Spurs and Chelsea in their next two matches, featuring in all-London showdowns may prove to be a blessing in disguise as Moyes searches for a more passionate performance from what remains a talented group of players.
Tottenham Hotspur Premier League form: WWLLDD
Tottenham Hotspur form (all competitions): LLDDLD
West Ham United Premier League form: DLLWLL
Team News
© Reuters
After watching his side perform well against Man United, Mourinho may be prepared to select the same starting lineup.
However, the recovery of his side, as well as the return from suspension of Dele Alli, is likely to lead to at least one alteration.
Alli may get the nod over Erik Lamela, providing that Bergwijn and Son have shown no ill effects from their first competitive game after injury, while Toby Alderweireld could return to take the spot of Eric Dier.
Lucas Moura remains a doubt after sustaining a head injury during training last week.
West Ham manager Moyes is likely to make several changes to his team, including in defence when Declan Rice may be restored to the centre of midfield.
Ryan Fredericks could take the spot of youngster Jeremy Ngakia at right-back, while Manuel Lanzini and Andriy Yarmolenko will feel that they deserve a recall in attack.
After coming through 90 minutes as a lone forward against Wolves and his past injury record, Michail Antonio is unlikely to be risked from the start twice in the space of three days.
Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:
Lloris; Aurier, Sanchez, Alderweireld, Davies; Sissoko, Winks; Bergwijn, Alli, Son; Kane
West Ham United possible starting lineup:
Fabainski; Fredericks, Diop, Balbuena, Cresswell; Rice, Noble, Soucek; Lanzini, Yarmolenko, Anderson
We say: Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 West Ham United
Both teams will have high expectations when it comes to gaining maximum points on Tuesday evening. However, while we feel that the Hammers will push their city neighbours close, we think that Spurs will rally during the closing stages to earn a morale-boosting win.
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Tottenham Hotspur win with a probability of 55.46%. A draw had a probability of 23.4% and a win for West Ham United had a probability of 21.14%.
The most likely scoreline for a Tottenham Hotspur win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.19%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.87%) and 2-1 (9.81%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.12%), while for a West Ham United win it was 0-1 (6.3%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 9.9% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Tottenham Hotspur would win this match.
