Tottenham v West Ham

[Mighty T.A.L.]

Both London clubs have endured uncharacteristically poor starts after last season's successes.

Martin Jol's side have managed a disappointing eight points from their opening eight games so far, while The Hammers have shown early relegation form, languishing in the drop zone, three points behind them.

A lack of goals has been the pair's biggest problem, with Bobby Zamora (five) and Carlton Cole (one), West Ham's only two scorers thus far.

Spurs have had six scorers, meanwhile, but have still only managed two more than their opponents in all competitions, and in fact West Ham, with six goals, have outscored Jol's side in The Premiership.

The North Londoners have shown fine form in Europe, however, and came through a difficult looking tie against Besiktas 2-0 on Thursday.

Indeed, the real reason behind their poor start has been Spurs' away form, although they recorded their first goal and point on the road in a slightly fortunate 1-1 draw at Aston Villa in their last league outing.

Celebrating his fourth year in charge at United, Alan Pardew's side are on an horrendous run of six straight defeats in all competitions, and more worryingly have failed to find the net in any of those games.

But Pardew may take heart from the fact his team's only win so far has come against their only London opposition - in their opening game of the season at home to Charlton Athletic.

Only Anton Ferdinand's goal at the death denied Spurs all three points in the corresponding fixture last term and the White Hart Lane outfit will be anxious to avoid a repeat of that letdown.

West Ham are the only club in the division yet to record a clean sheet and have taken just one point on their travels - in a 1-1 draw at Watford in August.

Dimitar Berbatov looks set to start after his fine second goal of the season in Turkey, while strike partner Jermain Defoe needs just one goal to bring his career tally up to 100.

United captain Nigel Reo-Coker has been quick to show support for his under-fire manager and will be pushing for a positive response from his troops in the trip to the Lane.

The high profile deadline day signings of Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez have yet to bear fruit, and Pardew will be hoping the Argentinian duo can spark his team into life.

Source: http://home.skysports.com

[andy villa]

i bet mido loved getting the goal and the win after last seasons "shoe bomber" and "your mother is a terrorist" taunts from some sections of the west ham crowd...

best way to shut up these vile disgusting racist cretins..

as for the game, in my opinion, defoe should be fined, banned and then had up on criminal charges...

biting mascherano is disguting and assault...

filthy disgusting actions...