Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham United
Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Sunday 19 February 2023, 4.30pm GMT
Fifteen days after West Ham United embarked on their longest journey of the 2022/23 Premier League season to Newcastle United, the Irons make their second shortest, just six miles as the crow flies, to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
For the record, Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium is marginally closer to London Stadium.
The Hammers head to north London seeking to extend their unbeaten run in the Premier League to four matches, having followed a 2-0 home win over Everton with successive 1-1 draws at Newcastle and at home to Chelsea.
The Irons will visit Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the sixth time since becoming the first visiting team to win there courtesy of Michail Antonio’s historic goal in April 2019, for a fixture that will be broadcast live in the UK by Sky Sports and BBC Radio 5 Live.
However, West Ham have failed to win on each of their two most-recent trips to N17, and Spurs defeated champions Manchester City there in their last home game.
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.
And the Italian will not be in the dugout this weekend as he continues to recuperate in his homeland following gallbladder surgery. Assistant Cristian Stellini will take the team on Sunday.
Tickets
The first 90% of tickets sold out to Bondholders and Season Ticket Holders with 23+ Loyalty Points. The remaining 10% (303 tickets) were then made available to Season Ticket Holders who had yet to purchase for this fixture by a ballot process. This ballot closed at 12pm on Wednesday 25 January.
Travel
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 and Elizabeth line 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.
How to Follow
Saturday's game will be broadcast live in the UK by Sky Sports on Sky Sports Premier League and Main Event.
If you live outside the UK, click here for details of listings in your territory.
You can listen to commentary in the UK on BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio London 94.9FM and worldwide on whufc.com and our official app.
You can also follow the action via our live blog on whufc.com and our app and across our social media channels. We will also have highlights and exclusive reaction for you after the final whistle.
Team News
West Ham United were without striker Gianluca Scamacca (knee), defenders Kurt Zouma (thigh) and Aaron Cresswell (illness) and goalkeeper Alphonse Areola (hamstring) for last Saturday’s draw with Chelsea.
Midfielder Paquetá (shoulder) and centre-back Nayef Aguerd (groin) were replaced during that game. Winger Maxwel Cornet (calf/virus) has been out of action since October.
Tottenham Hotspur will be without Uruguay midfielders Rodrigo Bentancur (ACL) and Yves Bissouma (ankle), goalkeeper Hugo Lloris (knee) and full-back Ryan Sessegnon (hamstring).
Opposition
It has been a strange season for Tottenham Hotspur.
On the one hand, Spurs are dealing with headlines speculating over the future of manager Antonio Conte, who is currently recovering from gallbladder surgery in his homeland of Italy, and the future ownership of the club, with media briefings suggesting ENIC Group and Daniel Levy have no interest in selling to Iranian-American billionaire Jahm Najafi after 22 years at the helm.
The north Londoners have lost four of their last seven Premier League matches to drop out of the top four, and impressive midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur has been ruled out for the remainder of the season with a serious knee injury.
On the other hand, Tottenham remain in strong contention to qualify for next season’s UEFA Champions League, still have a good chance to overturn a 1-0 round of 16 first-leg deficit to AC Milan in this season’s competition, and are through to the FA Cup fifth round.
Star striker Harry Kane recently broke Jimmy Greaves’ all-time goalscoring record and looks as good as ever, and Spurs have a squad that includes plenty of high-quality internationals.
The bottom line, though, is that while local rivals Arsenal have surged into the Premier League title race this season, Tottenham are out of contention and still seeking a first piece of silverware since lifting the League Cup in 2008.
Previous Meetings
West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur have met 53 times in the Premier League, with Spurs winning 25 to the Hammers' 17, while eleven matches have been drawn.
The reverse fixture at London Stadium at the end of August saw Tomáš Souček’s second-half strike cancel out Thilo Kehrer’s own-goal to secure a 1-1 draw for the Hammers.
Tottenham beat West Ham twice at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last season. A 3-1 victory in the league saw a Son Heung-min brace and a Kurt Zouma own-goal cancel out Saïd Benrahma’s volley in March 2022, while Spurs also recorded a 2-1 win in the Carabao Cup fifth round tie in December 2021.
Previously, Manuel Lanzini rescued a point with a 30-yard screamer as the Hammers overturned a three-goal deficit to draw 3-3 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in October 2020.
No Room For Racism...
Sunday's fixture is dedicated to the Premier League’s No Room For Racism campaign, which sees clubs unite to send a powerful message to tackle racism and discrimination, both on and off the pitch.
This message underlines the need for football to work collectively to tackle all forms of discrimination, which have no place in our game or in society.
At West Ham United, we are proud to be based in one of the most multicultural areas of the country where equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of everything we do. Regardless of ethnicity, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation or beliefs, everyone is welcome at our Club.
We have been awarded the Advanced level of the Premier League’s Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Standard (PLEDIS) – the highest level which can be achieved. Our aspiration is to be the equity leader in football and alongside our supporters, this is something we are continually looking to build on and improve.
We thank all of our fans for their ongoing support and for helping us to eradicate the bad behaviours which do not represent our Club, our community or our West Ham United family.
Match Officials
Referee: Michael Oliver
Assistant Referees: Stuart Burt and Simon Bennett
Fourth Official: Chris Kavanagh
VAR: David Coote
Assistant VAR: Nick Hopton
Born in Ashington, Northumberland in February 1985, Michael Oliver has been a member of the Select Group of Referees since August 2010, when he was just 25.
Oliver started refereeing in the Northern Premier League from 2003 to 2005 before quickly working his way up through the National League and EFL to reach the Premier League in January 2010.
The 38-year-old refereed the 2007 Conference National and 2009 League One Play-Off finals and controlled the 2016 EFL Cup final, 2018 FA Cup final and 2021 FA Cup final, which saw Leicester City overcome Manchester City 1-0 to win the trophy.
Oliver was appointed to the FIFA List in 2012 and has since refereed competitive and friendly international, UEFA Champions League and Europa League fixtures.
He has refereed West Ham United on 38 occasions, most recently in our Boxing Day Premier League defeat at Arsenal.
