Voices on the game... West Ham

We’re back in action at home to West Ham United in another behind-closed-doors Premier League outing tonight (kick-off 8.15pm). Here’s what’s being said ahead of our latest London derby...

Clive Allen

Former Spurs and West Ham striker, former Spurs coach

“It’s a massive game for both clubs in terms of where their seasons are. With West Ham losing at the weekend and Spurs drawing, it’s must-win for both teams. I think the pressure is immense on West Ham at the moment, they need to find some results so that doesn’t make it easy for them, but they obviously came to the stadium last year and were the first winners there. They’ll be buoyed by that but Spurs need three points and I think what showed on Friday against United is that’s the team is capable of getting them – they’ve just got to make sure they don’t concede. Jose has obviously spoken about both Dele and Lucas Moura being available again and that’s massive – both were big misses against United so that’s a big positive for Spurs.”

David Moyes

West Ham manager

“We need to be as tough, competitive and difficult as we possibly can be. We’ve seen it from Jose’s teams throughout the years and we need to make sure we understand the level of the game and what’s at stake. Every game for us is labelled must-win. We might not win them all but we will go into every game with a must-win attitude and we did on Saturday (2-0 loss at home to Wolves). People might say ‘well, it didn’t show’, but that was the way we set up and will for every game at the moment. This league might go right to the end – I think it will – and we need to make sure we give ourselves every opportunity to be a Premier League club.”

Jose Mourinho

Spurs Head Coach

“Independent of points, ambitions, needs, independent of that, it’s a London derby, it’s Tottenham against West Ham, and that always means something. Apart from that, or on top of that, we need points to jump positions and to be fighting until the end. They need points to disappear from the danger zone. We are a better team than what the table says. They are a better team than what the table says, too. Without the emotion of the fans, I can imagine the same match in a normal situation full of our fans, and them with a few thousand, it’s going to be different, but against Manchester United, our match was the best match. I saw the first fixture of the Spanish league, of the Portuguese league, the German league and the Premier League… I think our match was the best match of all in terms of intensity, in terms of dynamic and fighting for the result. It was really a strong, proper match, a match that if it was in normal conditions, with a crowd and that emotion, it would be an amazing match, so let’s go.”

Heung-Min Son

Spurs forward

“It’s a big game, like all other games, but this is a London derby and special for the fans. It also means a lot for the players. It’s a must-win match and that’s what we’re thinking every game, but especially for the coming eight matches. We will do our best to get as many points as possible. I remember we had a very good game at the London Stadium (in November). It was the game after we came back from the international break and into a must-win game at West Ham. We did it and we were very happy. I still remember after the game the players were very happy in the changing room!”

Michail Antonio

West Ham winger

“Obviously they have quality players, but we can’t worry about what players they have and have back, because the majority of our players are fit now. I feel that we’ve got enough, and these are the players who are going to go out there and do the job – because we need to do the job. Any game against Tottenham where we’re involved is massive. Over the last few years we’ve managed to get some decent results against them, so hopefully we can turn everything around and start building from the game. We believe we can compete against teams like Tottenham and Chelsea, we aren’t disheartened. We believe we can go out and do things over the next couple of games.”