Preview

It’s Crisis Club vs Crisis Club at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, as Spurs take on West Ham United in the Premier League. 

By Ian King

Neither Spurs nor West Ham arrive for this match in a terribly good condition

It’s fair to say that neither Spurs nor West Ham United arrive at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for Saturday afternoon’s showdown in a particularly good condition. Spurs were dumped out of the FA Cup by Aston Villa last weekend and have now been rocked by the news that director of football Fabio Paratici will be leaving the club at the end of the January transfer window, while injuries are continuing to mount up.

West Ham United did manage to squeeze past Queens Park Rangers after extra-time in the Cup last weekend, but they haven’t won in the Premier League since the 8th November and their last league outing resulted in a 2-1 home defeat in a relegation six-pointer against Nottingham Forest and a seven-point gap opening up between them and Premier League safety.

Spurs have the edge in recent meetings between the two teams

This can be a difficult fixture to predict, though West Ham’s recent form in it hasn’t been great. Last season, Spurs won the corresponding fixture at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, while Spurs won 3-0 at The London Stadium earlier this season. West Ham beat Spurs 2-1 at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in December 2023, but this was their only win in their last nine meetings in all competitions. 

Conor Gallagher’s Tottenham arrival gives them some cause for cheer, but West Ham could be set to lose one of their most accomplished players

There hasn’t been much to cheer about for Spurs fans recently, but the £35 million arrival of Conor Gallagher from Atlético Madrid last week did give them some cause for optimism. The former Chelsea midfielder has been in Madrid for the last two seasons, and his return to London gives his new club the sort of combative all-round midfielder that they’ve been missing for much of this season.

As one player arrives at Spurs, another could soon be leaving West Ham. There have been rumours that Lucas Paquetá could be set to leave the club for Chelsea, even though the player had previously been reported to be wanting to return to Brazil, such was his unhappiness at the way he perceived himself to have been treated over spot-fixing allegations, even though he was cleared of the charges in July 2025. 

West Ham don’t want to sell him, but it does seem increasingly likely that he’ll be on his way before the end of this month, and if he is open to going to Stamford Bridge, a goal in this particular match would be the perfect way to intensify interest from elsewhere, or perhaps even sign off.

The Spurs injury crisis has deepened still further, but West Ham could also be missing key players

Spurs’ injury woes are continuing to get worse, with Richarlison limping off against Aston Villa in the FA Cup with a hamstring injury for which there is not yet a return date. Also suffering with his hamstring is Rodrigo Bentancur, who will now be missing for much of the remainder of the season. Destiny Udogie and Lucas Bergvall could return – Udogie hasn’t played since the start of December, while Bergvall missed the Villa match after picking up an knock in their previous outing against Bournemouth – but neither are confirmed. 

James Maddison, Mohammed Kudus and Dejan Kulusevski remain long-term absentees. Yves Bissouma returns from AFCON duties with Mali – where he was sent off as they were knocked out by Senegal – but might not be with the club for that much longer. Pape Sarr, however, will not be back in time after Senegal beat Egypt in the semi-finals of the competition. 

In a similar vein for West Ham, Malick Diouf also remains with Senegal, so will be missing this fixture for them. On the injury front, meanwhile, there has been confusion this week over whether Lucas Paquetá will be fit to play in this one – some reports have described his chances as “50-50” – but Mateus Fernandes could return after missing the QPR match as a result of an injury picked up in his last Premier League outing against Nottingham Forest. 

Konstantinos Mavropanos was stretchered off against QPR and is almost certain to miss this one, too.

Spurs in this state versus West Ham in this state feels like a comedy of errors waiting to happen

At what point does push come to shove for the embattled Spurs head coach Thomas Frank? The Aston Villa match ended in another early cup elimination, with the thinnest possible silver line of them having played marginally better in the second half than they had in the first, and Spurs are still chasing their first win of 2026, despite having now played four games in all competitions this year.

West Ham have, broadly speaking, been terrible this season. Under normal circumstances, this should be a home banker of a win for the home side that even their comfortable win in Stratford earlier this season already feels like a distant memory. But they picked up a win – eventually – in the FA Cup against QPR and, while they have an injury list of their own and it’s nothing like that of their opponents, but their remains the suspicion that they could yet be on for a three-manager season through getting rid of Nuno Espírito Santo. 

These are, then, two clubs with enormous structural problems which are manifesting on the pitch, and it’s possible that the losing manager will get the sack afterwards. Tension, therefore, will be high, and it’s difficult to imagine this match being anything but a skittish, accident-prone mess of a game in which, if there are to be winners, they get over the line as a result of a catastrophic mistake by their opponents. I’ll go for a 1-1 draw and for both clubs’ winters of discontent to continue. 

(Cover image from IMAGO)

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