Everything on... West Ham

Honours were very much even in our three meetings with West Ham United last season, each club claiming a 3-2 away win before a 1-1 draw at Wembley Stadium in January.

We claimed the spoils first time around at the London Stadium with two goals from Harry Kane and a composed Christian Eriksen finish giving us a 3-0 lead before the home side pulled two goals back. We also led 2-0 in last October’s Carabao Cup fourth round meeting thanks to Moussa Sissoko and Dele Alli but West Ham struck three times in 15 second-half minutes to progress.

Heung-Min Son was our saviour in our home league game against the Hammers, firing in a wonderful 84th-minute equaliser to earn us a point.

Here’s everything you need to know about our opponents on Saturday…

Team news

Robert Snodgrass should be available despite withdrawing from international duty with Scotland last week while Hammers boss Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed that Marko Arnautovic has trained and will be okay to feature on Saturday, after he also withdrew from international duty with Austria.

Jack Wilshere remains absent following ankle surgery in September while Winston Reid, Andy Carroll, Manuel Lanzini and Carlos Sanchez are long-term absentees.

One to watch

Marko Arnautovic made his name in English football as an attacking midfielder but has been in inspired form this season leading the line for West Ham.

The 29-year-old initially made his breakthrough in Dutch football, his purple patch being 12 goals in 28 Eredivisie games as FC Twente finished second in 2008/09. Three seasons followed at Werder Bremen before Stoke City lured him to the Premier League in summer 2013.

In his four years at Stoke, Arnautovic scored 22 league goals in 125 games but he became even more prolific after joining West Ham. He struck 11 times in his first season in London and already has four goals in seven games since switching to a striker’s role this term.

The Austrian international also has 20 goals in 75 appearances for his country, including the winner in last Friday’s UEFA Nations League game against Northern Ireland.

Last five meetings

4 January, 2018 – Spurs 1-1 West Ham United – Premier League
25 October, 2017 – Spurs 2-3 West Ham United – Carabao Cup, fourth round
23 September, 2017 – West Ham United 2-3 Spurs – Premier League
5 May, 2017 – West Ham United 1-0 Spurs – Premier League
19 November, 2016 – Spurs 3-2 West Ham United – Premier League

Previous clash

We had won our last three league games and were closing in on the top four when West Ham arrived at Wembley in January.

But the Hammers were on an upward curve themselves as they looked to pull further away from the relegation zone and took the lead against the run of play through a sensational 30-yard strike from Pedro Obiang with 20 minutes remaining.

Our own inspiration came from Sonny, who crashed in an equally-impressive effort from distance with six minutes remaining to ensure we did not remain empty-handed.

West Ham’s form

The Hammers were handed a daunting schedule this season with Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United all opponents for Pellegrini’s men in their opening seven league matches.

They started the campaign with four league defeats but turned the corner with a 3-1 victory at Everton on 16 September, Andriy Yarmolenko scoring his first two goals for the club.

They lost 1-0 at Brighton & Hove Albion in their last outing but their recent home form has been impressive. They held Chelsea to a goalless draw and beat Manchester United 3-1 either side of an 8-0 triumph against Macclesfield Town in the Carabao Cup – a result that set up a fourth-round meeting with ourselves at the London Stadium on 31 October.

Magic moment

The date 16 August, 2014, proved to be a particularly memorable one for both Mauricio Pochettino and Eric Dier.

We travelled to Upton Park for our opening league game of the season and first with Mauricio as coach but were dealt a huge blow when Kyle Naughton was sent off for a deliberate handball after 29 minutes.

Mark Noble missed the resulting penalty, however, and the home side were also reduced to 10 men in the second half when James Collins was dismissed for two bookings.

A goalless draw seemed inevitable until the 93rd minute when debutant Eric, who had started the game at centre-back before shifting out to the right in Naughton’s absence, burst through the Hammers’ defence, rounded goalkeeper Adrián and slipped the ball into the empty net to send the Spurs contingent behind the goal delirious.

Played for both

Ryan Fredericks came through the ranks at White Hart Lane and made his first three appearances for the club in the 2011/12 Europa League campaign.

His only other outing for us was in a 4-1 victory against Anji Makhachkala in the Europa League in December, 2013. Having had spells at Brentford, Millwall, Middlesbrough and Bristol City, Ryan made his name during three seasons at Fulham.

The right-back racked up more than 100 league appearances at Craven Cottage, winning promotion in his final year and being included in the Championship Team of the Season, before making a free transfer to West Ham this summer.

What they’re saying

Ahead of the first of our two trips to the London Stadium this month, Hammers boss Pellegrini, recalling our 3-2 triumph in this fixture last term, said: “I hope that this year the result will change from last season. I hope we can continue to be strong at home, as we were against Chelsea, Manchester United and in the cup game with Macclesfield. I hope we can beat Tottenham this time.

“I think they are a very good team with a lot of young players. Mauricio Pochettino has been there for three or four years and is doing a very good job there. I think they are one of the strongest teams in the Premier League.

“Harry Kane, at the moment, is one of the best players in the Premier League. They have three or four young players that are in the England international squad. They have other international players as well. They have a complete squad.”