The Predictor League for Spurs is open. Enter your team HERE. Deadline is 10am on Sunday.
Blast from the past
Easter Monday, the 31st of March 1986 – Cliff Richard & The Young Ones featuring Hank Marvin were number one with ‘Living Doll’, Clockwise topped the UK box office and Sir Peter Pears died three days later. West Ham United, meanwhile, secured a 2-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in front of 27,568 at Upton Park.
West Ham were without the suspended Alvin Martin, sent off at Arsenal earlier in the month, so Paul Hilton came in for his second and final appearance of the season. Tottenham were without Glenn Hoddle but former Hammer Paul Allen lined up for the visitors in his first appearance back at the Boleyn Ground since departing for Spurs the previous summer. Future Hammer Clive Allen, Paul’s cousin, appeared as a Spurs substitute.
John Lyall’s hosts, fresh from a 4-0 thrashing of Chelsea at Stamford Bridge 48 hours earlier, came close early on when Geoff Pike and Mark Ward were denied by Ray Clemence. West Ham took the lead in the 17th minute when Frank McAvennie’s clever flick found Alan Dickens, who in turn released Tony Cottee (pictured in this game below) who buried his effort past Clemence. The 20-year-old striker would be voted Hammer of the Year, with McAvennie runner-up.
Ossie Ardiles headed an equaliser for Tottenham five minutes later but the Hammers were ahead again shortly before half-time – Ward’s corner was headed on by Tony Gale, Cottee’s effort was blocked by Clemence and McAvennie smashed the loose ball home – the Scot would end his first season in east London as the club’s top scorer with 28 goals from 51 appearances. The second half saw Alan Devonshire denied by Clemence, while McAvennie hit the bar with a lofted effort and saw a shot beaten away by Clemence after a swift breakaway following a Spurs corner. The action from this match can be viewed in my video below.
West Ham ended the 1985/86 season in third place, still our highest ever league position, while Peter Shreeves’ Tottenham finished tenth. Unfortunately, there was no prize of a European place in 1986/87 following the Heysel ban on English clubs in Europe. Liverpool would complete the Double by winning the league and the FA Cup.
West Ham United: Phil Parkes, Ray Stewart, Tony Gale, Paul Hilton, George Parris, Mark Ward (Neil Orr), Alan Dickens, Geoff Pike, Alan Devonshire, Tony Cottee, Frank McAvennie.
Tottenham Hotspur: Ray Clemence, Gary Stevens, Paul Miller, Gary Mabbutt, Danny Thomas, Paul Allen, Graham Roberts, Tony Galvin, Ossie Ardiles (Clive Allen), Chris Waddle, Mark Falco.
Club Connections
Ex-West Ham goalkeeper Joe Hart returns to his former club while current Hammer Ryan Fredericks started his career at Spurs. A large group of players join him in having turned out for Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United. Divided here by position, they include:
Goalkeepers: Bill Kaine, Charlie Ambler, Tony Parks, Fred Griffiths.
Defenders: Calum Davenport, Paul Konchesky, Mark Bowen, Mauricio Tarrico, Steve Walford, Simon Webster, Chris Hughton, Percy Mapley, Fred Milnes, Mitchell Thomas, Neil Ruddock.
Midfielders: Paul Allen, Scott Parker, Michael Carrick, Jimmy Neighbour, Ilie Dumitrescu, Matthew Etherington, Mark Robson, David Bentley, Charlie Whitchurch, Chris Carrick, Martin Peters, John Smith, John Moncur.
Strikers: Mido, Frederic Kanoute, Almer Hall, Peter Kyle, Sergei Rebrov, Kenny McKay, George Foreman, Dave Dunmore, Teddy Sheringham, Les Bennett, Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane, Fred Massey, Jimmy Reid, Clive Allen, Bobby Zamora, Les Ferdinand, Jimmy Greaves, Harry Bradshaw, Bill Joyce.
Jack Tresadern played for West Ham and managed Tottenham, while Trevor Hartley also played for the Hammers and managed Spurs on a caretaker basis. Harry Redknapp played for the Hammers and managed both clubs.
This week’s focus though is on a midfielder who had a short loan spell at Tottenham Hotspur before later managing West Ham United. Alan Pardew was born in Wimbledon on 18th July 1961 – a former glazier, Pardew signed for Crystal Palace from non-league Yeovil in 1987 at the age of 25 and remained at the club for four years. He signed for Charlton in 1991 and scored a winning goal against West Ham in August 1992.
Pardew had a brief loan spell at Tottenham in the summer of 1995, featuring for them in the InterToto Cup. UEFA had stated that any club refusing to play in the competition would incur a ban from European football but Spurs saw it as an inconvenience to their pre-season plans – they also had players representing England in the Umbro Cup (a preparatory tournament for Euro ’96) and others playing for the Under-21 side in the Toulon tournament. Manager Gerry Francis put together a team of the club’s youngsters alongside veterans loaned from the lower leagues – Francis didn’t even attend the InterToto matches, preferring to spend pre-season in Scandinavia with the first team.
With the InterToto Cup played in a group stage format, Pardew made his Tottenham debut in a 2-0 ‘home’ defeat (the match was played at Brighton’s Goldstone Ground) to Swiss side Luzern on 25th June 1995. Pardew’s only taste of victory in a Spurs shirt came in a 2-1 win at Slovenian side Rudar Velenje. A 2-1 loss to Swedish side Osters followed in a match again played at the Goldstone two days before his 34th birthday, but Pardew’s fourth and final appearance for the club remains etched in Tottenham history – their 8-0 humbling in Cologne on 22nd July 1995 remains in the record books as the club’s heaviest defeat. The German club took the competition somewhat more seriously – German international Bruno Labbadia scored a hat-trick, with Austrian legend Toni Polster and Romanian World Cup quarter-finalist Dorinel Munteanu netting two apiece. With Spurs’ InterToto adventure ending in failure, Pardew joined fourth-tier Barnet as player-coach and ended his playing career with the Bees in 1997.
Pardew moved into management with Reading, first as caretaker manager in March 1998 before landing the job permanently a year later after the departure of Tommy Burns. Having lost the 2001 Second Division Play-Off Final, Pardew took Reading up automatically the following season and followed that up with another play-off position finish in the First Division in 2003.
Following the sacking of Glenn Roeder in August 2003, West Ham courted Pardew’s services but were given short shrift by Reading chairman John Madejski who, when Pardew resigned his position, enforced a period of gardening leave on his former employee. With Trevor Brooking steering the ship capably in a caretaker role, the 42-year-old Pardew eventually became West Ham’s tenth permanent manager in October 2003. He drew his first game at home 1-1 against Nottingham Forest, with Jermain Defoe’s header equalising Andy Reid’s long-range effort. He had to wait until his eighth game in all competitions for his first win, which arrived on 29th November 2003 against Wigan who were thrashed 4-0. An impressive comeback from 2-0 down to win 3-2 against Sunderland a month later kept the Hammers’ promotion push alive.
Pardew lost Defoe to Tottenham in January 2004 but ensured Bobby Zamora came to the Boleyn as part of the deal. Zamora joined fellow Pardew signings Hayden Mullins, Brian Deane and Marlon Harewood in east London, while three new faces would arrive from Wimbledon in the shape of Nigel Reo-Coker, Adam Nowland and Jobi McAnuff. Andy Melville arrived from Premier League Fulham, with Ian Pearce moving to Craven Cottage. England goalkeeper David James departed for Manchester City.
Pardew’s men dumped Premier League Wolves out of the FA Cup at Molineux in the fourth round courtesy of goals from Deane, Harewood and David Connolly but would be defeated in a fifth round replay by Fulham. The Irons finished fourth in the First Division, 12 points behind the automatic promotion places, but would defeat Ipswich in the Play-Off Semi-Final second leg at a raucous, rocking, revitalised Upton Park – Matthew Etherington and Christian Dailly scoring the goals on a night few who were there will ever forget. Pardew’s interest in the psychology of the crowd played a part in building the atmosphere before kick-off. After such a wonderful display against Ipswich, the Play-Off Final was a damp squib, Crystal Palace defeating the Hammers 1-0 in Cardiff.
The Hammers started 2004/05 in the newly-named Championship with England international Teddy Sheringham added to their ranks but Michael Carrick was to move to Tottenham. Jimmy Walker, Malky Mackay, Chris Powell, Luke Chadwick, Shaun Newton, Carl Fletcher, Gavin Williams and Sergei Rebrov also joined the club that season. Pardew also put his faith in youth, handing a debut to a young Mark Noble and finishing the campaign with Academy products Anton Ferdinand and Elliott Ward as his first-choice centre-back pairing.
The Hammers endured a difficult campaign, although along the way they won at eventual title winners Sunderland through Harewood and Sheringham strikes and also tore up Ipswich’s unbeaten home record on New Year’s Day, Harewood again scoring alongside Etherington. Premier League Norwich were also knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round before Sheffield United defeated the Irons on penalties in the next round. West Ham sneaked into the Play-Offs with a final-day win at Watford, ending the season in sixth place just ahead of Pardew’s former club Reading. A Zamora-inspired 2-0 win at Ipswich in the second leg of the Play-Off Semi-Final ensured a 4-2 aggregate triumph and the Hammers weren’t to be denied a second time, securing promotion in Cardiff with a 1-0 win over Preston with Zamora notching the winner.
A ninth-placed Premier League season followed, Pardew’s boys starting with a 3-1 comeback win at home against Blackburn before Aston Villa were downed by a Harewood hat-trick. New signings Roy Carroll, the returning Shaka Hislop, Danny Gabbidon, Paul Konchesky and Yossi Benayoun were settling in nicely, Benayoun rounding off the aforementioned win over Villa with the fourth goal in a 4-0 win. Pardew again showed his eye for a goalscorer by breaking the club’s transfer record to sign Dean Ashton in January 2006 and the Hammers enjoyed a run to the FA Cup Final for the first time in 26 years, beating Norwich, Blackburn, Bolton, Manchester City and Middlesbrough along the way before Liverpool agonisingly defeated the Hammers on penalties in Cardiff. League wins at Highbury and against Tottenham to deny Spurs a place in the Champions League (helped in some small part by a dodgy lasagne) made 2005/06 a season to remember. Pardew was mere minutes away from lifting the FA Cup which had also eluded him as a Crystal Palace player in 1990.
The summer of 2006 saw quantity but a lack of quality arrive at the club with Tyrone Mears, Jonathan Spector and John Paintsil all signed to contest the right-back spot. Rob Green was an inspired signing in goal, George McCartney and Carlton Cole would serve the club well and Lee Bowyer added experience in midfield. The astonishing signings of Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez, alongside a takeover of the club by Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson and Eggert Magnusson, destabilised the club however. The Hammers went seven games without a goal and 11 without a win in all competitions, being knocked out of the UEFA Cup by Palermo and the League Cup by lowly Chesterfield. The crowd showed their support for the manager by chanting ‘Alan Pardew’s Claret and Blue Army’ before a 2-1 win over Blackburn, while a late 1-0 win over Arsenal in November 2006 saw Pards and Arsene Wenger have a much-publicised spat on the touchline.
Pardew was sacked during the week after a 4-0 defeat at Sam Allardyce’s Bolton on 9th December 2006. He was replaced by former Hammer Alan Curbishley. Pardew was appointed manager of former club Charlton on Christmas Eve but, despite a 4-0 win over Curbishley’s West Ham in February 2007, could not keep the Addicks in the top flight. He went on to manage Southampton before making a Premier League return at Newcastle in December 2010, replacing former Hammer Chris Hughton. Pardew made impressive progress with the Magpies, securing a fifth-placed finish in 2011/12 and winning the Premier League Manager of the Season Award and the League Managers’ Association Manager of the Year Award.
Pardew decided to move to former club Crystal Palace in January 2015 and made the FA Cup Final in 2016, which he would again lose. He took over as manager at West Brom in November 2017 but could not halt the Baggies’ slide to the Championship and he left The Hawthorns in April 2018. Pardew was manager of Dutch club Den Haag for a spell last season. Now 59, he is currently Technical Director of Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia.
Referee
Sunday’s referee will be Craig Pawson; 2020/21 is Pawson’s ninth as a Premier League referee. In 2014/15 he refereed West Ham’s 3-1 home win over Liverpool and sent off Adrian in our 0-0 draw at Southampton, a decision that was later overturned. His Hammers appointments in 2015/16 were both at the Boleyn Ground, for our 2-2 draw with Manchester City in January 2016 and the 3-3 draw with Arsenal three months later.
Pawson’s matches in charge of West Ham United in 2016/17 saw him send off Harry Arter as the Hammers defeated Bournemouth 1-0 in August 2016, while he also officiated in our 2-1 home win over Chelsea in the fourth round of the League Cup in two months later. He also refereed our 5-1 home defeat to Arsenal in December 2016. He awarded Watford a penalty and sent off Michail Antonio as the Irons drew 1-1 at Watford in February 2017. Pawson did not referee the Hammers at all in 2017/18; his Irons games in 2018/19 were our 8-0 win over Macclesfield, our 2-1 win at Southampton and our 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace. His only matches involving the Hammers last season were our 2-0 defeat at Tottenham in June 2020 and, most recently, our 2-2 draw at Newcastle in July.
Possible line-ups
West Ham United will be without Darren Randolph, Angelo Ogbonna, Arthur Masuaku and Andriy Yarmolenko but Michail Antonio should be available. Fabian Balbuena is a doubt. The Hammers have won six of the last 27 Premier League games against Tottenham but have scored 58 Premier League goals against Spurs, more than against any other team. Aaron Cresswell needs one more Premier League assist to match his career-best return of seven, set in 2017/18.
Tottenham Hotspur are without Serge Aurier and Giovani Lo Celso, while there is a doubt over Sergio Reguilon. There have been four red cards in the last seven league encounters between these two sides in east London. Harry Kane has 11 goals in his last 11 league games against West Ham. Tottenham might fail to beat West Ham in a league season for the first time since 2013/14. Spurs have conceded eight goals in their past two games on English soil – the most a Mourinho team has ever let in across a two-match period.
Possible West Ham United XI: Fabianski; Coufal, Diop, Dawson, Cresswell; Lingard, Rice, Soucek, Benrahma; Bowen, Antonio.
Possible Tottenham Hotspur XI: Lloris; Alderweireld, Sanchez, Dier; Doherty, Hojbjerg, Ndombele, Davies; Bergwijn, Kane, Son.
Enjoy the game – Come On You Irons!