West Ham head to bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur with much more than bragging rights at stake and both Nuno Espirito Santo and Thomas Frank have big selection problems.
Lucas Paqueta is the name making the headlines ahead of West Ham’s trip to Spurs.
Both Nuno Espirito Santo and Thomas Frank are under enormous pressure.
Perversely, though, it is actually Tottenham manager Frank who is perhaps facing more scrutiny with reports he could be sacked if West Ham win.
Both the Hammers and Spurs have massively underperformed for the last two years.
That saw Tottenham finish 17th, one place above the relegation zone, last season while the Irons ended up 14th.
Higher stakes than usual as West Ham go to Spurs
Past the halfway stage of this season, though, Spurs have barely improved as they sit 14th while West Ham have regressed even further, sitting eight points adrift in the relegation zone.
Many now make the Hammers certainties for the drop.
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But victory over Tottenham could breathe new life into their fight for survival, especially with Nottingham Forest facing Arsenal.
It makes West Ham’s short trip to north London all the more intriguing and utterly vital.
Nuno has been bemoaning West Ham’s lack of luck since his arrival.
But the stars may be aligning for him as Spurs could be missing seven key players for West Ham.
The Hammers are not without their major issues, though.
Nuno looks set to make four big West Ham changes with a top duo out as Spurs miss seven.
Paqueta’s future has been the subject of incessant claim and counterclaim all week as he pushes for a return to boyhood club Flamengo.
Talks were held between West Ham and the Brazilian giants on Friday as a deal looks increasingly likely in January.
Paqueta missed the QPR game in the FA Cup citing a back injury.
Nuno makes four big West Ham changes as Spurs miss seven
The situation got messy this week when West Ham accused Paqueta of ‘lies’ and ‘playing games’ over his injury.
Ironically, Spurs also made an offer to West Ham for Paqueta, but his response was swift and unequivocal.
With these players out or doutbful, who needs to step up against Tottenham?!
All eyes will be on whether Paqueta is available for the game after Nuno called on West Ham to resolve the situation quickly.
Hammers News believes Paqueta will not make the trip to Tottenham – and he won’t be the only key player missing.
Mateus Fernandes has been one of West Ham’s better players this season. He brings energy and combativeness to the midfield.
The Hammers will need that given Spurs are going to be boosted by the arrival of longstanding West Ham target Conor Gallagher.
But Fernandes has been training alone all week working on recovery after also missing the QPR game.
That gives Nuno a major headache in replacing Fernandes’ athleticism.
Tottenham’s top scorer Richarlison will miss the West Ham game through injury as will former Hammer Mohammed Kudus, arguably Spurs’ best player this season, who is out until April.
Midfield duo Lucas Bergvall and Rodrigo Bentancur are both out as are long-term absentees Dejan Kulisevski and James Maddison while Senegal star Pape Sarr remains at AFCON, along with West Ham’s El Hadji Malick Diouf, as they face Morocco in the final this weekend.
Kilman, Magassa, Potts and Wan-Bissaka in from start?
How Nuno sets up without Paqueta and Fernandes will go a long way to deciding the outcome of the game.
Konstantinos Mavropanos may have to sit the game out with a neck injury.
So Max Kilman will replace him in the starting XI from the team which started the last Premier League clash with Forest in change number one.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka will replace Ollie Scarles in change number two and either he or Kyle Walker-Peters will switch to left-back.
With Fernandes out and Paqueta out, Nuno will bring Freddie Potts and Soungoutou Magassa back into the starting XI from the team which lost to Forest in changes three and four.
Predicted West Ham starting XI to face Spurs:
Areola, Wan-Bissaka, Todibo, Kilman, Walker-Peters, Magassa, Potts, Soucek, Bowen, Summerville, Castellanos.