Spurs Women v West Ham - Karen and Juan's preview

We host our first-ever London derby at The Hive this weekend when we play rivals West Ham in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League (WSL) – kick-off is 2pm this Sunday (12 January).

Karen Hills and Juan Amoros’ side, positioned seventh in the league, are looking to recover from a 4-1 loss against Manchester City in our first game of 2020 last Sunday.

Sitting below us in eighth, the Hammers will be in action for the first time since their 7-0 win in the Continental League Cup against Crystal Palace on 11 December after their last two league fixtures against Bristol City and Everton were called off.

This will be our third meeting with Matt Beard’s side this season having secured a historic 2-0 win at the London Stadium and we came out on top at Rush Green in a penalty shootout in our League Cup Group D clash – Rianna Dean scored in both matches against Sunday’s visitors.

Ahead of another big test in the WSL, Karen said: “We’re expecting a tough game against West Ham after beating them twice away from home this season and we know they’ll put up a good fight on Sunday.

“Our game at the London Stadium was a massive highlight for us this season but I think the game this weekend is going to be a completely different encounter. Both teams are capable of winning on their day and I feel that we are quite evenly matched, and another three points will be massive for both sides.

“We’re familiar with their strengths and their weaknesses but at the same time, they have added some new players into the mix, and they’ve had a slightly extended break with their last two fixtures being postponed, so we know they’ll be raring to go.

“Our girls know how important these games against the teams around us are. We’ve got to be consistent with our performances and we’ve got to stay disciplined and organised to hopefully come away with three points.”

Juan added: “Our target, as always, is to get three points. We know our performance against Manchester City last week in the first half was unacceptable and we are much better than that and we’re determined to put things right on Sunday.

“We showed in our second half display that we can compete and there were plenty of positives to take and now it’s about making sure we stay switched on and competitive throughout the entire 90 minutes.

“We’re pleased with how hard the girls have been working in training and we know it’s never going to be easy against West Ham. Since we last played them, they have strengthened their squad and we know how tight things are getting in the table with them just three points behind us with two games in hand.”