West Ham United v Tottenham Hotspur - Brace the Hammer Predictions

It’s that time of year again, West Ham United v Tottenham Hotspur - in the absence of Millwall this is the closest the get to a Hammers grudge match in recent times. I think we all remember the last time these two clubs met at London Stadium - Hammers were mockingly told that the game was our ‘cup final’ - we proceeded to win the fixture 1-0 and end Tottenham's ‘title race’. One of the better moments of West Ham’s 2016/17 campaign.

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West Ham welcome their London rivals to London Stadium, in the first derby of the season. Personally, I would have preferred for this fixture to come a bit later in the season, we never perform well against the spuds in the early portion of the season. We need something at stake. I think we all remember the 1-4 humbling back in November 2015.

West Ham enter the fixture in good form, we are undefeated in our last three games, managing to keep clean sheets in each of these games. We’ve still conceded the joint-most goals in the Premier League this season [10], but maybe the recent change to 3-4-3 has helped solidify the defence. Even if this comes at the expense of attack.

We’ve asked Brace the Hammer’s finest for their thoughts on the Tottenham clash and what we are liable to see on Saturday morning:

Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

The Kiwi Hammer

Premier League predictions have been hit and miss for me so far this season, however I'm predicting this to be similar... As in... Miss. Although, I will say with Spurs being decent away from home and us good at home, I think it'll be a 2-1 West Ham United win with Chicharito scoring as well as Arnie.

Wallace Milner

West Ham have devolved a wonderful habit of crushing Tottenham's title charges in the past few years. With this matchup coming much earlier it's difficult to say whether that trend will continue.

One trend that has developed is a solid run of form from both of these sides over the last couple weeks. I'm cautiously optimistic that West Ham can pull off an upset.

Tottenham 1-2 West Ham

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Trevor Criswell

It was nice to see some free-flowing football from West Ham in the past week and hopefully that translates into this weekend. But I just don’t see a victory here, with Spurs being held to a goal in their last two games that will probably change ending 3-1 loss for the Hammers.

Pete Schlenker (The Artist Formerly Known as HammerPete)

West Ham 1 Spurs 1

A nervy match, but with Spurs playing like crap at Wembley and West Ham up for the match, Slaven Bilic staves off firing one... more... match

Andrew Jones

West Ham 2-2 Tottenham (if Lanzini is back)

West Ham 1-3 Tottenham (if Lanzini is not back)

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Chad Hoy

It's no secret that Tottenham are much better quality than West Ham, but I think with it being a rivalry game that we're really going to bring the heat. West Ham are unbeaten in their last three matches, and, while they struggled with West Brom, I don't think it will be the same in this London derby. Tony Pulis plays a very basic, "park the bus" style of football where he is clearly only going for the tie.

Tottenham are going to come out attacking, and as long as the 3-4-3 holds up and Bilic puts everyone in their rightful positions (namely Chicharito playing up top), I think West Ham will pull one out. With Marko back and getting into form, I can see him and Chicharito linking up pretty well in this match.

Going the homer rout, because I'd feel like a traitor otherwise, and saying that West Ham pull out a win 2-1. As long as the back three—along with Zabaleta and Antonio as wingbacks—hold up well, I can see us limiting Tottenham's attack to just one goal. If only Lanzini were back…

Jackson Schmidtke

2-2 draw

We'll go up early but Spurs will level. We'll take the lead again only to give it up on a 92nd minute goal by Harry Kane.

Garett Kerber

4-0 to Tottenham

I'm very afraid that the last couple results have been fools gold. The Hammers beat and drew with two offensively challenged squads and, in my opinion, didn't look great doing it.

I'm not convinced anything has been fixed or whether there is a concrete plan. When the top summer signing and heralded striker, Chicharito, is playing out of position 5 matches in, that's troubling to me.

Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images

Jonathan Lines

West Ham 2-1 Tottenham

I'm in danger of sounding like an optimist! I know we have a terrible record of getting spanked by the top teams recently, yet we've got a decent record against Spurs. I think Bilic will be very focused on defensive function.

This is a bit of a worry but as long as our players are committed and stand up for themselves, Tottenham won't necessarily find the game as comfortable as they may like. This could be the game Carroll gets on the end of one, and if we get an early goal Tottenham aren't always the best at coping with a game that's not going their way. Here's hoping! COYI

Jack Kavanagh (Me!)

I think West Ham will be solid at the back and look to do most of their damage on the counter. This won’t be an entertaining game.

0-0 draw