West Ham v Tottenham: Difficult to split capital rivals

WEST HAM welcome Tottenham on Saturday for a fascinating Premier League contest. Anthony Olsson (@Ant_olsson93) analyses the encounter.

West Ham v Tottenham | Sunday 24th November 2019, 12:30 | BT Sport

Mauricio Pochettino is gone and Jose Mourinho takes charge of his first Spurs game on Saturday lunchtime in what is sure to be one of the most watched games this weekend. West Ham will be looking to spoil the party for Mou but they are without a win since September.

Spurs will be looking to start the journey back to into the top four after a mixed run of results and performances. The 1-1 draw against Sheffield United was probably the most disappointing considering the Blades are a newly-promoted side. Jose also has a big task on his hands to try and change Tottenham's’ away record which has been extremely poor since the start of 2019.

Most new managers who take over are usually given more time with their new squad and I was quite surprised to hear that Mourinho would be taking over straight away. One thing that Jose will need to do is to sure up Spurs’ defence which has conceded 17 goals in 12 league matches so far.

West Ham have been struggling in the league since September and their 3-0 loss to Burnley last time out was one of their poorest performances of the campaign. I’m not sure of the direction the Hammers are trying to take but I think they could match up well against a Spurs side who will still be a be fragile.

I think I would be looking to get behind a draw (10/3 Bet365) in this match. Both sides aren’t easy to trust at the moment. We know that West Ham will be motivated by the local derby narrative but I’m not sure that will be enough to get them all three points.

As for Spurs, I’m not sure what they’ll look like under Mourinho and I think it could take a couple of a weeks before we start to see him work his magic. The draw is attractive at 10/3 (Bet365)

The last four meetings between the sides have seen Under 2.5 Goals on three occasions. Betfair are offering 8/5 that there are fewer than three goals and I think that could be a good angle.

West Ham have only score more than once in a match on one occasion in their last four and Spurs haven’t managed to score more than one goal in a match away since their 2-2 draw at Arsenal.

This game is a difficult one for the punter, but it should be very intriguing for the viewer. We get to see what should be a revitalised Mourinho take charge of an extremely talented squad and hopefully we can see West Ham get back to the performances they were producing at the start of the season.