If it is true that Slaven Bilic has been given two games to save his job like many of the media outlets are reporting, I find it difficult to believe that the Spurs game will have much bearing on the decision. Put it this way. If it is true and we beat Spurs and lose to Palace I just don’t see him remaining in his job. If we lose to Spurs and beat Palace things may well be different, at least for the time being. Crystal Palace is the big one for Bilic despite many fans actually preferring a win against Tottenham if given the choice? Spurs will likely play an under strength team against us after playing Liverpool on Sunday and matches away to the Moaning ones on the weekend and home to Real Madrid a few days later. I doubt the League Cup, or whatever it is called this season, is a high priority for Pochettino’s team this season. So, with a crucial game against Palace this weekend it will be interesting to see what team we field at Wembley on Wednesday? My best guess is that we will keep much of our powder dry concentrating on the League game.
It is interesting to see how matches against Spurs have become the most anticipated in West Ham fans calendars? I must admit I have followed the droves and these fixtures have become the highlight of my season too, providing we get a result of course. But from my memory it was not like that when I first started going to matches back in the 1960’s. I was only very young then and perhaps ill informed, but if my memory serves me correct our games against Manchester United were always the “big ones”? All London derbies had an extra edge to them back then but the Spurs fixture has certainly well and truly overtaken all of them, apart from one certain team who we hardly ever play anyway!
My stat machine tells me we have played Spurs on 207 occasions and they have won 94 and we have won 62 with 51 drawn encounters. However, in the past ten fixtures we have won five with one draw and four Spurs wins. This improved run of results started with the famous 3-0 win at White Hart Lane in October 2013 where Sam, after a start to the season not unlike what is happening now, pulled a rabbit out of the hat and played a 4/6/0 formation with Ravel Morrison scoring a goal to remember. Many of the games played in recent history have been memorable for one thing or another. David Cross scoring four goals, Lasagne-gate right through to last season’s 1-0 win with an under strength team that killed off any chance Spurs may have had of winning the Premier League.
Spurs have always seemed to have the upper hand in the transfer market over us and player transactions between the two clubs are now rare. Over the past 13 years there has only been two transfers with Calum Davenport being our only signing in 2007 and Scott Parker going the other way six years ago. The Martin Peters transfer was probably the worst deal West Ham ever made with Tottenham, simply made unpalatable by our gullibility in taking a player exchange with Jimmy Greaves as part of the transaction. Receiving 3.5m quid for Michael Carrick is also a pants down for the club and more recently the sale of Scott Parker also left a bitter taste. That was the last player transfer between the two clubs.
By the time I write my next column Slav’s tenure might be up? On the bookies markets there was a lot of money for Koeman to be the next manager to leave his position. He was backed into 1-4 (80%) in a matter of hours on Sunday evening. I wrote this in my original draft but before the ink was dry so to speak, the deed was done! Bilic has now been left as the new 8/11 (58%) favourite and would be much shorter odds but for the wave of money that is coming for Sean Dyche. That is on the back of him being heavily backed for the Everton job. The fact that there are 28 managers at 33/1 or under to be the next West Ham manager is a clear indication that finding any potential new man will be difficult – there are really no leads in the market to suggest the owners have any specific targets lined up. For those who are predicting relegation the price of 7/2 (22%) is a fantastic opportunity for you to put your money where your mouth is and make a handsome profit. Thirty five quid profit for a tenner indeed.
To lighten the mood, some may have seen this video but for the benefit of those who haven’t it is well worth a look. The clip centres around young two year old Henrique and his family who have had tough times but their love for West Ham is unwavering. A day out at the OS was just what the doctor ordered.