Secure, tax-free online betting with surreySPORTS.co.uk Sebastien Schemmel Mauricio Taricco
The London derby at Upton Park on Saturday will be one not just for the homegrown talents of Ledley King and Jermaine Defoe, but two foreign talents who will relish the frantic atmosphere of this needle clash.
It was Tottenham who ended Frenchman Sebastien Schemmel's FA Cup dream in the quarter-final last March after he had been very impressive in the Hammers' wins at Manchester United and Sunderland in the earlier rounds of the competition.
This form helped Schemmel secure a permanent move to the club after he was initially on loan from Metz for the final four months of the 2000-01 season. Glenn Roeder made the fullback his first signing after being appointed manager, paying the French side £465,000 for his services.
And his displays this season have illustrated why both Middlesbrough and Bradford City were trying to prise him away from the Hammers' grasp. Playing on the right-hand side of defence, Schemmel has won 37 challenges this season - the sixth highest tally in the Premiership - and 10 more than one of his rival's on Saturday, Mauricio Taricco.
The Tottenham defender has played every game this season filling in for the injured Stephen Carr at right-back. Taricco has been in his most impressive form for the club since his £1.75 million move from Ipswich over three years ago.
He has made the second-highest number of blocks at White Hart Lane this season - just behind Ledley King's impressive tally of 19. While he may not be as impressive offensively as Carr down the right, he is improving this area of his game and his link-up play with Darren Anderton could cause the Hammers a few problems.
Taricco's crossing accuracy is 10 percentage points better than Schemmel's and West Ham would do well to close him down tightly when he starts to advance into their half of their field. The Argentinian's recovery from the muscle and groin problems which blighted his campaign last season seem firmly behind him and his good form was rewarded when he signed an extension to his current contract tying him to the club until 2005.
Nevertheless Schemmel has also been impressive and his tally 392 successful passes is the most by a West Ham man this season. If he can maintain this level of distribution then the east Londoners may be able to get revenge for that Cup defeat with a 2-1 victory, available at 9/1 with online bookmakers surreySPORTS.
Benji Romaner