West Ham United midfielder James Ward-Prowse has just made a really honest admission ahead of our Premier League clash with Tottenham tonight.
The West Ham vs Tottenham Premier League game at the London Stadium is a hugely important one for James Ward-Prowse and his teammates.
West Ham boss David Moyes was fuming with the manner of our 4-3 defeat to Newcastle on Saturday. The fans will be as well, especially after Vladimir Coufal’s admission that the Magpies players worked harder than the Hammers.
In a way, the game against Tottenham is perfect for us. It’s always a fiercely contested London Derby, and the players don’t need any extra motivation to get up for this one.
West Ham actually have a fairly impressive recent record against Spurs over our last eight meetings since the start of the 2020/21 season:
- 3 wins
- 2 draws
- 3 losses
Tonight’s clash with Spurs is a must-win game for us. The fans know howe important this one is for our season, and hopefully the players do as well.
However, Ward-Prowse has made an extremely honest admission ahead of the match…
James Ward-Prowse makes West Ham vs Tottenham admission
The 29-year-old Hammers midfielder has bagged 11 assists and five goals for the club since swapping St Mary’s for the London Stadium in the summer of 2023 (Transfermarkt).
Ward-Prowse has been a solid addition for us, although he’s found himself out of the starting XI over the past month or so, with Moyes reverting to playing four forwards.
The former Southampton man just doesn’t do enough for me aside from his set-pieces. That said, I still believe he’s a useful squad player, and he may well be needed tonight against Tottenham.
Ward-Prowse was speaking ahead of the match and made a really surprise admission about the Hammers vs Spurs clash, as quoted by WHUFC.com:
*“I’d not been at the Club that long before the last Tottenham match, and I hadn’t realised just how much it meant to the fans\. Of course I’d played in derbies before \[for Southampton against Portsmouth\] and there’s always extra hype around those games, but I think we have to try and put emotion to one side and concentrate on the football, and getting all three points\.”*
Now that really does surprise me. I just presumed that our rivalry with Tottenham was one that was well-known all around England.
Don’t get me wrong, Millwall are our main rivals, but we haven’t played them for 12 years, and the two sides have only met three times since 2005! So it’s only natural to form a fierce rivalry with the next in line – in this case, Spurs.
Ward-Prowse clearly wasn’t aware of the rivalry between West Ham and Tottenham, or the intensity of it at least.
I’m sure that our win at their place back in December made him fully aware of what it means to us though!
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