TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Sunday 19 February 2023, 4.30pm GMT
West Ham United make the six-mile journey north-west to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for a second successive London derby.
The Hammers will visit Spurs’ new home for the sixth time on Sunday afternoon for a fixture that will be broadcast live in the UK by Sky Sports.
West Ham, of course, became the first visiting team to win at Tottenham’s new home when Michail Antonio fired past Hugo Lloris to secure a 1-0 Premier League victory back in April 2019.
However, the Irons have failed to win on each of their two most-recent trips to N17, and Spurs defeated champions Manchester City there last weekend.
That said, Tottenham have lost four times on home turf in the Premier League season, to Newcastle United, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Arsenal. A fifth would give the Claret and Blue Army the local bragging rights again.
Antonio Conte's side were beaten 4-1 at Leicester City in the Premier League last weekend and 1-0 at AC Milan in their UEFA Champions League round of 16 first-leg tie in Italy on Tuesday evening.
How to get there…
With an almost complete lack of parking and busy London streets surrounding Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, it is strongly recommended that supporters take public transport, rather than driving to the game.
It’s a simple journey from central London too. Just head for Liverpool Street and hop on a London Overground train to White Hart Lane or Greater Anglia service to Northumberland Park. From either, it’s about a ten-minute walk to the Away supporters’ turnstiles in the north east corner of the ground.
The issue could be getting to Liverpool Street in the first place, seeing as Greater Anglia services between there and Shenfield are again not running due to engineering works. Replacement buses will get you from Ingatestone or Southend Victoria and Newbury Park, from where you can pick up your journey on the London Underground Central line.
The Jubilee line is also closed between Green Park and Stratford.
London Overground services will not run between Willesden Junction and Stratford. Replacement buses will operate.
If you’d like a slightly longer walk, take the London Underground Victoria line to either Tottenham Hale or Seven Sisters, from where it is a 25 to 30-minute stroll north up Tottenham High Road. Tottenham Hale is also on the Greater Anglia network.
Seven Sisters is also on the London Overground, as is Bruce Grove, which lies midway between Seven Sisters and White Hart Lane, but is served by fewer trains.
Finally, a shuttle bus will run between Wood Green station on the London Underground Piccadilly line and the stadium, but no shuttle bus will be in operation to/from Alexandra Palace due to the limited Great Northern services running on Sunday.
Where to stay…
I mean, let’s face it, you’re unlikely to be staying over for a Sunday afternoon kick-off six miles from London Stadium, but just in case...
Of course, if you’re travelling to London from outside the capital, there are literally thousands of hotels, guest houses, apartments and more to choose from if you need overnight accommodation.
What to do…
London, of course, has attractions for all the family and to suit all budgets and tastes.
While the capital’s top tourist spots are well-known, let’s concentrate instead on things to do in and around north London.
You could have a walk up to Alexandra Palace and take in the superb view southwards across the London skyline.
If you’d rather do something nearer the centre of the city before jumping on the train or Tube, why not have a stroll around Regent’s Park and visit London Zoo?
Directly north of Regent’s Park is Primrose Hill, which also offers fantastic views across central London to the south.
Further north of Regent’s Park is the trendy Borough of Camden, which is home to a wide variety of eateries, pubs, bars and independent shops.
What’s happened there before…
We’ve already mentioned Michail Antonio’s historic strike in April 2019, but there has been plenty of other drama in our four other visits to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
We resumed our fight for survival following the three-month COVID shutdown with a trip to north London on 23 June 2020, but a 2-0 defeat did little to boost our hopes of remaining in the Premier League. Thankfully, our form improved and we did survive the following month.
We returned to Spurs in October of the same year, when games were being played without supporters present, but no Hammer will ever forget our miraculous comeback from three goals down in the final nine minutes, capped by Manuel Lanzini’s unstoppable strike in the fourth minute of added-time.
We visited twice last season, losing a hard-fought EFL Cup fifth-round tie 2-1 in December 2021, before going down to a 3-1 Premier League defeat in March last year.
