Jose Mourinho will hope Harry Kane has a bit more luck with a match under his belt and a lesser defense when Tottenham Hotspur welcomes West Ham United on Tuesday (Watch live at 3:15 p.m. ET on NBCSN and online via NBCSports.com).
Mourinho’s lengthy rant on Kane’s usage and his record with strikers during a long and celebrated managerial career is getting lots of response on Monday.
Spurs are four points back of the top five, but West Ham have deeper concerns. The Irons are only out of the drop zone on goal differential, level on points with 18th-place Bournemouth.
Team news
Mourinho gets Dele Alli back from suspension and Lucas Moura is fit again, two players whose absences the manager lamented after Friday’s draw with Man United. They both start as Steven Bergwijn and Erik Lamela go to the bench.
𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦!
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) June 23, 2020
Lloris (C), Aurier, Dier, Sanchez, Davies, Sissoko, Lo Celso, Dele, Lucas, Son, Kane.@WilliamHill latest (18+)
➡️ https://t.co/wgAu37gR9f#THFC ⚪️ #COYS pic.twitter.com/iGLhOWG3pe
Angelo Ogbonna returns to the bench for West Ham, but striker Sebastien Haller and winger Robert Snodgrass could be out for a while according to David Moyes.
Our line-up tonight... ⚒#TOTWHU pic.twitter.com/7brM2qDcMk
— West Ham United (@WestHam) June 23, 2020
What they’re saying
Mourinho on Hugo Lloris communicating in empty stadium: “Of course I always believe a goalkeeper is a good leader and a good captain. Independent of that, I always knew that a goalkeeper looking at a game in a fantastic position, to organize and be a little bit an extension of the coach, especially in the defensive organization. So if we can get something positive out of the negativity of an empty stadium, it’s communicating.”
Moyes on what he saw from Spurs v. Man Utd: “The biggest difference is they have got many of their big players back, three or four of them whereas when we were due to play them I dont think many of them would have been fit and available. It happens, sometimes you get lucky with injuries and suspensions, other times you don’t. We would have rather had them in the condition they were before rather than now.
Odds and ends
Spurs are -148 to win via DraftKings while West Ham is +390.
The first meeting between the teams this season was Jose Mourinho’s first match in charge of Spurs. Tottenham built a 3-0 lead and it finished 3-2 when Angelo Ogbonna scored deep in stoppage time.
Prediction for Tottenham-West Ham
Spurs might concede at the back but they have too much quality not to puncture the Irons’ defense. 2-1 to Tottenham.
