West Ham v Tottenham lineups & previews

Tottenham travel to London Stadium to take on West Ham on Saturday, and it’s clear that Mauricio Pochettino plans to pull no punches.

With West Ham having claimed victory in each of the last two home matches against Tottenham, Pochettino’s reasoning is clear. This isn’t the time to rotate players, even considering the club’s upcoming midweek trip to APOEL.

While the team that will take to the pitch on Saturday midday represents the strongest team available to Pochettino, there are some notable absences.

Danny Rose, Érik Lamela and Victor Wanyama were all known scratches prior to the match, but Mousa Dembélé’s absence is more troubling. We know that the Belgian has struggled with pain in his foot following surgery in the early summer, and it could be that Pochettino is simply managing his minutes.

That said, there are some encouraging returns here as well. Ben Davies starts again after missing out on last week’s match against Swansea and the EFL Cup contest against Barnsley. He’s complemented on the opposite side of the pitch by Serge Aurier, who earns his first ever Premier League start.

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Pochettino has elected to go with the back three yet again, a decision that suggests he takes West Ham’s attack seriously. Ahead of Toby Alderweireld, et al will be Eric Dier in midfield alongside the rotating pair of Christian Eriksen and Moussa Sissoko. Dele Alli and Harry Kane, meanwhile, lead the line.

It’s a nearly identical lineup to the one that struggled against Swansea, with the notable exception of the flanks. Davies and Aurier’s presence from the start of this match might add a bit more bite to Tottenham’s attack, who occasionally suffer when it is not properly supported from the flanks.

Another surprise inclusion comes in the form of Georges-Kévin Nkoudou, who earns a place on the bench today. The young Frenchman has yet to impress so far at Tottenham, but his pace and wide play could give Pochettino a valuable weapon late in the game.

West Ham go will a slightly surprisingly lineup. Andy Carroll’s form of late should have guaranteed him a start here, but Slaven Bilić instead opts to include new signing Marko Arnautović.

The Austrian probably represents a bigger threat to Spurs, as his ingenuity and direct play should combined well with Michail Antonio and Javier Hernández. Spurs might not be able to hold quite as high of a line as they hoped.

Despite West Ham’s slow start to the season, this promises to be an entertaining contest at the very least. There’s a sense that Bilić has Tottenham’s number, and might once again have his team turn in a surprisingly clever performance.

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Pochettino, meanwhile, is working with perhaps his best team yet at Tottenham. There might have been a few stutters so far this season, but this is a team entirely capable of brushing the West Hams of the world aside.