With Tottenham fully fit this weekend, now appears to be the time to make their move.
There are no injury concerns for Mauricio Pochettino, and with Southampton and Liverpool - the teams bracketing Spurs in the table - set to play each other later today, a perfect opportunity has arisen for them to not only solidify a top seven finish but to potentially gain ground on a few teams in front of them.
They’ll have that opportunity as they host West Ham in a London derby from White Hart Lane live on NBCSN at 7:ooam ET or live online at NBC Sports Live Extra.
Roberto Soldado was lively in the midweek Europa League match with Fiorentina, but he will be sent back to the bench in favor of the white-hot Harry Kane. Christian Eriksen has also surprisingly been sat with Nacer Chadli, as Andros Townsend and Erik Lamela find starting spots in a starting lineup that could be somewhat influenced by the upcoming League Cup final and a second Europa League leg in Italy.
WATCH LIVE: Tottenham vs West Ham live online at NBC Sports Live Extra
West Ham, on the flip side, come into this game needing a spark. The Hammers have scored just a single goal in their last four matches across all competitions, and need something to kick-start the club’s energy. They have a near fully-fit squad as well, with Winston Reid returning from injury to make the starting lineup, and both James Collins and Matt Jarvis also returning to fitness and finding spots among the substitutes.
The only major miss for West Ham is the continues absence of Andy Carroll who is out for the season with knee problems. Also new signing Nene also remains lacking fitness and cannot make the squad just yet.
LINEUPS
Tottenham: Lloris, Walker, Dier, Vertonghen, Rose; Bentaleb, Mason; Lamela, Dembele, Townsend; Kane.
Bench: Vorm, Davies, Fazio, Stambouli, Chadli, Eriksen, Soldado.
West Ham: Adrian, Jenkinson, Tomkins, Reid, Cresswell, Song, Noble, Kouyate, Downing, Sakho, Valencia.
Bench: Jaaskelainen, Demel, O’Brien, Collins, Nolan, Jarvis, Cole.
