West Ham United will be travelling to White Hart Lane continuing the disastrous run to the season they have had from the very beginning. And considering the fact that Tottenham Hotspurs are yet to lose a single game this season, the trip doesn’t seem to be an easy one for the Hammers.
However, with the international break occurring in  between, both the clubs have had the chance to reflect upon their fixtures played so far and we expect both the clubs to approach the game differently both tactically and psychologically.
Of course, Tottenham are having their own problems as they have failed to register a win in the last 4 matches and very surprisingly, this winless streak started right after they were heaped with applauses for beating Pep Guardiola’s star-studded and high-flying Manchester City.
Here are the 3 burning questions that could well be answered after the Tottenham vs West Ham game-
Does Tottenham have the squad depth to successfully replace their first team players?
Mauricio Pochettino had to suffer Harry Kane’s absence for too long and quite visibly he failed to successfully replace the forward with another. Now that the England striker is back, he is without two of his brilliant midfielders- Moussa Dembele and Christain Eriksen. Both suffered injuries in the Arsenal game and are quite doubtful for their game against West Ham United.
The burden is doubled for Pochettino as he is already without Eric Lamela and Dele Alli. Vincent Janssen, who has failed to impress the manager in the absence of Harry Kane, is out with injury too.
Pochettino is left with a bunch of youngsters in the attacking and midfield area, and we are unsure if they can take the first-team responsibility just yet.
Is Simone Zaza staying beyond January?
Like Janssen, the new Italian recruit of Slaven Bilic has also been a disappointing buy. He has failed to score or even bag an assist in the 7 chances he got at the club.
Luckily, Bilic has found an alternative in Michail Antonio and now Andre Ayew- both wingers, who somehow have kept the Hammer’s cannon firing occasionally.
Rumours have already loomed large over the Italian’s future with the media linking the Juventus loanee to a host of clubs. Slaven Bilic even had to state publicly that Zaza won’t be going anywhere in January.
But that was three matches back and  Zaza hasn’t done anything differently since then. With Manolo Gabbidiani already on Bilic’s cards, Zaza will definitely have to prove his mettle soon.Â
Will Tottenham’s ‘stalemate’ curse end against the Hammers?
Tottenham are amidst a strange situation here. There are the winless streaks, the goalless streaks, winning streaks and losing streaks. But the stalemate streak looks like a difficult puzzle to solve for Pochettino.
It’s not that they are experiencing a goal drought as they scored 3 goals in 3 matches and it is also not that their defence is faltering as they have conceded only 5 goals in 11 games so far.
So, what exactly is blocking Spurs’ mentality to go and win the match is really a conundrum difficult to solve. But it might as well break in this game with their main striker back.
