MY ACCOUNT
West Ham’s record signing could make his debut against Tottenham on Wednesday with Brazilian attacker Lucas Paqueta set to add silk to the Hammers’ rediscovered steel.
David Moyes’ side picked up their third win in four games in all competitions on Saturday with the Scottish manager commenting that the team are beginning to look like their old selves after a stuttering start to the season.
Three new signings experienced their first Premier League win with the club and West Ham will aim to deliver another when Spurs arrive at London Stadium to renew rivalries.
Antonio Conte’s men will arrive in confident mood after collecting 10 points from their opening four league matches to make their best start to a campaign since 2009-10.
But Spurs could be made to regret not following up their former interest in Paqueta if he makes an instant impact as a Hammer.
Team news
Moyes could be forced to make a change at the back after admitting Ben Johnson and Aaron Cresswell both felt tight hamstrings during Sunday’s 1-0 win over Aston Villa.
Angelo Ogbonna and Vladimir Coufal could come into the starting line-up with the Czech defender appearing to show no ill effects from the concussion he sustained in the 2-0 defeat to Brighton earlier this month during a 67-minute run-out at Villa Park.
Summer signing Nayef Aguerd and veteran centre-back Craig Dawson remain out with ankle and thigh issues respectively.
The West Ham boss must decide where Pacqueta fits in and whether he would best compliment the qualities of Michail Antonio or Gianluca Scamacca, who are both vying for selection up front.
For Tottenham, Conte’s defensive ranks could be boosted by the return of Cristian Romero from the treatment table.
The Argentine centre-back, who was announced as a permanent signing on Tuesday, has missed the last two matches with a knee injury.
Lucas Moura and Bryan Gil, both missing from the squad that beat Nottingham Forest on Sunday afternoon, remain unavailable but Oliver Skipp is in contention for a place in the matchday squad.
Richarlison is pushing for a starting role, possibly at the expense of Son Heung-min, while Rodrigo Bentancur is expected to keep his place alongside Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in midfield, leaving Yves Bissouma out of the starting XI for the time being.
The stats
West Ham’s last 14 Premier League matches have all been played on a Sunday with this midweek fixture breaking a sequence that dates back to March.
Paqueta will become just the fourth Brazilian to play first-team football for the Hammers. The 25-year-old was preceded by forwards Ilan and Nene, who each made a handful of appearances in 2010 and 2015 respectively, and former club-record signing Felipe Anderson.
In 2021-22, Paqueta contributed 13 goals and seven assists through 4,305 minutes of play for Lyon and Brazil, completing 81.5% of his passes and enjoying success with 55.3% of his dribble attempts.
Harry Kane scored the 200th (and 201st) league goals of his senior club career on Sunday with 187 of these coming for Spurs in the Premier League, seven for Millwall in the Championship, five for Leyton Orient in League One and two for Leicester in the second tier.
Since his Totenham debut in February, Dejan Kulusevski has registered more assists in the Premier League than any other player with 10.
Kane’s penalty miss at the City Ground ended his run of 15 consecutive spot-kicks scored in the Premier League for Spurs.
Prediction
West Ham have won their last two home Premier League games against Spurs, but Conte’s side have shown enough resilience in the last few months to suggest they can take something from this visit to East London.
Romero’s return would be a timely boost for the visitors, although they have kept back-to-back clean sheets in the two games since he picked up a knee injury.
Moyes has many more options in attack now than he did last season, but he must now determine the best combinations and foster the on-field chemistry required to unlock elite defensive units like Conte has constructed.
A low-scoring draw looks to be the most likely outcome when these two capital clubs collide on Wednesday.
