West Ham United are gearing up for their first London derby of the season as they take on Tottenham Hotspur for a midweek fixture at home.
Antonio Conte’s men have enjoyed a better start to the campaign, with three wins and a draw in four Premier League matches, whereas it has been a difficult opening month for the Irons.
Pablo Fornals’ goal against Aston Villa at the weekend secured a first league win for David Moyes’ men after three straight defeats without scoring a single goal.
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But both Paul Merson and Chris Sutton believe third-placed Tottenham are hard to predict at the moment, despite their unbeaten start. Former Chelsea striker Sutton, who predicts a 2-2 draw on Wednesday night, told BBC Sport: “Tottenham are quite strange really.
“They love to lure teams in and counter but West Ham got their first away win in their last game. The Hammers have had centre-half issues, they started with a back three against Villa but David Moyes’ tactical switch to a four at the back won them the game.
“You never know with Spurs, they can click but I think this will be a draw. I think West Ham will score with Spurs defending very, very deep.”
Tottenham started off the season with a comfortable 4-1 win against Southampton, but since then they have had to grind out results. Harry Kane has rescued seven points for Spurs with four goals in his last three games, including a brace against Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
Predicting a 1-1 draw, Merson told Sportskeeda: “West Ham got a big result against Aston Villa as they finally got their first points of the season. Tottenham, on the other hand, have got good results, but a deeper dive into their performances will tell you that they haven’t played particularly well. This is a London derby and the fans will be right up for this one, so I expect this to be a cracker of a contest.”
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