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There are six London representatives in the Premiership, half of whom will be contesting an FA Cup semi-final this weekend and half whom are merely playing out the season. Unfortunately for Spurs and West Ham fans, their teams fall into the latter category along with Charlton.
However, the Hammers faithful have plenty to be smiling about after witnessing their side evolve over the course of the campaign. The East End outfit were bottom of the table after four games and spent endless weeks bobbing around the lower echelons of the division. They had to wait until the final week of February before finally edging into the top 10 and now sit in a season best seventh place.
If West Ham's was a gradual rise to meteoric heights under the new and untried management of Glenn Roeder, then Tottenham's season has petered out into insignificance by comparison, under namesake Hoddle. Following an uncertain start to 2001-02 the Lilywhites became a permanent fixture in top half of the table, peaking in fifth place at the start of December. But a failure to register back-to-back victories for two months has left Spurs with nothing to show for their earlier efforts.
March brought three defeats on the trot with not a single goal throughout this demoralising period. They have since made amends by averaging 1.5 strikes per game in the four matches following this barren spell, yet only six other top-flight sides have landed fewer shots on target than Tottenham this term.
In contrast, the visitors have won four of their last five league contests in a row, maintaining three clean sheets in the process. David James made the number one jersey his own in Opta's most recent Premiership team of the week after keeping Charlton at bay with six stops and he will be keen to record a third successive shut out. A 78% saves-to-shots ratio should help him achieve that goal should he manage to maintain it.
The Hammers' have a proud home record this season and their incentive this Saturday will be to avenge a 1-0 defeat that Spurs inflicted upon them at Upton Park back in November. Full-back Nigel Winterburn confirmed that the players are still up for a fight even if silverware is out of the equation: "The season can go a little bit dead but, to be fair, the lads are well up for the rest of the games and we want to finish in that seventh place if we can."
No doubt the north Londoners will be fighting tooth and nail for a victory that would see them leapfrog their capital rivals in the table. Don't anticipate a glut of goals, but expect to witness a committed display from both sides that belies their somewhat irrelevant positions.
Mark Willis
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Fri 12 April 2002, 12:00
Tottenham Hotspur
Match referee: N. Barry
