Midfielder James Ward-Prowse is looking to replicate his goalscoring performance during December’s Tottenham Hotspur clash when West Ham United host their London neighbours back in the Premier League on Tuesday night.
The 29-year-old played a key role in an impressive 2-1 victory at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium earlier this season, notching a 74th-minute winner after Jarrod Bowen had earlier cancelled out Cristian Romero’s opener to help the Hammers to a welcome derby success.
More recently, a similar vein of form was brought to an end by Saturday’s dramatic 4-3 defeat at the hands of Newcastle United, but Ward-Prowse is confident his side can get back on track against Ange Postecoglou’s fifth-placed charges, who edged past Luton Town at the weekend.
“It’s going to be a difficult challenge for sure, and I’m sure they’ll be looking to get one over on us after the reverse game,” Ward-Prowse said. “They’ve transformed this season into an attacking, possession-orientated team, but we’ll try and stay focused on our strengths.
“In the previous game against them, they had a lot of the ball, but we defended really well and then took our chances when they came, which is what we’ll be looking to do again this time out.
“I think our defensive work gave us the platform to go on and win that game, though we rode our luck a bit at times as well. My goal came from the ball hitting the post and then finding me, but I’ll take those chances all day long and that game will long in my memory. Hopefully we can have similar success on Tuesday.”
That fixture in the north of the capital came less than four months after Ward-Prowse’s arrival at West Ham, and the former Southampton skipper admits he was initially somewhat surprised about the height of the rivalry between the Irons and Spurs.
And while local bragging rights are up for grabs again under the lights at London Stadium, his main priority is helping to spark a strong end to the campaign, with plenty still to play for at home and on the continent.
“I’d not been at the Club that long before the last Tottenham match, and I hadn’t realised just how much it meant to the fans,” added Ward-Prowse, who has so-far scored five goals in 41 outings in Claret and Blue.
“Of course I’d played in derbies before [for Southampton against Portsmouth] and there’s always extra hype around those games, but I think we have to try and put emotion to one side and concentrate on the football, and getting all three points.
“Saturday at Newcastle was disappointing, but the last chunk of the season is really exciting. We’ve still got a great opportunity to finish well in the league and in Europe, so we need to stay positive and do everything we can to do that.”
