As the days begin to get longer, the Premier League has started to draw to a close
Most teams now
only have ten games left to save or consolidate their season
Aston Villa still need eight points just to
draw level with 18th place, the likes Newcastle and Swansea still have games in hand but with
fixtures against Manchester City and Arsenal respectively on the horizon, it will not fill their
supporters with much optimism
Nearer the top, the likes of Manchester United, West Ham,
Southampton and now even Chelsea will not have given up all hope of wrestling fourth place from
Manchester City
While last nights 2-2 draw between Leicester and West Brom has just made this
title race even more intense
Spurs can go top with a victory, Arsenal can close the gap to three
points and if City were to win both their games in hand they would be within four points of the top.
The battle at the top then, as ridiculously tight as is proving to be, is the focus of today's Game In
Focus
Tottenham are looking to benefit from Leicester dropping points at home with a win that
would see them top the table with only 10 games to go, while West Ham know that if they can string
a few victories together while the top sides drop points as nerves and fatigue set in, they can find
themselves battling for an unlikely European place.
West Ham have been good value for their place in the top half of the table this season
An
impressive 2-2 draw with title chasing Manchester City in January coupled with a 2-0 victory of
Liverpool earlier that month have followed their superb opening day 2-0 victory over Arsenal, a 3-0
win over Liverpool in August, a 2-1 win over struggling Chelsea and, perhaps the pick of the bunch,
a 2-1 away victory against Manchester City
The above results convey that their position in the table
is not down to chance
The appointment of Slaven Bilic has galvanised this West Ham side and seen
them push the boundaries of their own ability and that has paid dividends
Their signings have also helped pave the way for a new style of play
Gone are the days where their
sole aim was to play root one football into Andy Carroll up front who would either knock the ball
down for a teammate or head the ball on himself
This method is still used, but it is reserved for
when West Ham need a goal in the final few minutes of a game
The loan signings Alex Song, Victor
Moses and Manuel Lanzini have added different elements to this West Ham side while the old
faithful of players such as Mark Noble, James Collins and Adrian in goal have added a powerful
spine to the team, allowing the more creative players to play without trepidation
In particular the
signing of Dimitri Payet has been a catalyst for the team
His trickery, ball retention, range of
passing and footballing brain have turned a good West Ham side into one which can challenge for
European football.
It perhaps shows the scope of the West Ham plan that a bid of nearly £40 million for Payet from an
unknown Chinese club was rejected
In recent times West Ham would have sold a player if he would
generate that kind of money
However it is clearly a backing from the owners that they feel this team
can climb even higher in the table and that they know it would have an adverse effect on their pursuit
of European competitions
If they can break into the Europa League then it is very likely they will
continue to attract players of a higher quality and then push even higher
This all stems from the
refusal to sell Payet and then getting him to sign a new contract.
Tottenham are in the situation that West Ham are looking to forge for themselves
Spurs have
steadily rebuilt themselves from a team which depended on Gareth Bale to a side which has match
winners all across the pitch
The initial splurge of money generated by the sale of Bale seemed to
have been on the wrong players with Roberto Soldado costing in excess of £30 million having
already returned to Spain
However the signings of Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela have really
come to fruition this season with both having a huge effect on the team with regard to their creativity.
In conjunction with this has been the rise of some very promising English talent
Harry Kane has
scored 16 goals this season, the best return by an English striker bar that of Jamie Vardy (19)
He
has been amply reinforced by the rise of Dele Alli and Eric Dier
Both players have brought their own
style of play to this Tottenham side and they compliment each other well
Alli is more akin to playing
further forward with his marauding runs, consummate finishing and range of passing while Dier is
more at home sitting deep, picking off passes and stopping attacks before they are allowed to
progress
With Mauricio Pochettino at the helm it seems that the younger players are being
encouraged to play with freedom allowing the entire Tottenham team to thrive.
Like West Ham, the more creative players have been allowed to focus more on their goal scoring
because of a very solid defence
In Particular, Hugo Lloris has been in superb form in goal
The
Frenchman has nine clean sheets so far and has been a driving force in Tottenham gaining the title
of the meanest defence having only conceded 21 goals this season, five goals lees than Arsenal and
Manchester United
This balance between offence and defence has allowed Tottenham to mount a serious title
challenge and leapfrog London rivals Arsenal into pole position for the Premier League
Many still
believe that Leicester will begin to stutter and drop points as the season draws to a close and after
last nights draw with West Brom it is an opinion which cannot be disregarded
While Tottenham can
go top with a win, it is still Arsenal's to lose
If they can beat Swansea tonight they know that a
victory over Tottenham on Saturday will draw them level with their London rivals and will place them
only three points behind Leicester, should the Foxes win on the weekend too.
That is why this London derby between Tottenham and West Ham is so important
West Ham can
apply pressure to those above them with a win while Tottenham can provide a buffer between them
and Arsenal meaning that a loss, unless catastrophically bad, would not see Arsenal go above them
All these factors combined make this one of the most mouth-wateringly important London derbies for
many years
Form wise, Tottenham are top taking 18 points from a possible 18 in their last six
games while West Ham are 10th taking exactly half that amount
However a London derby is not
decided on a team's position in the form table and this could prove to be a defining moment in both
team's seasons
Final predicted score:
West Ham 1
Tottenham 3
Source : DSG
Source: DSG