Friday 5 May, 20:00
Live on Sky Sports 1
West Ham
Slaven Bilic has not had it easy this season. The move to a new stadium is always fraught with peril and West Ham's early season performances were perhaps a symptom of that change of home. Add into that mix the loss of the club's star player in Dimitri Payet and in some ways you can say the Croatian has done well to guide his club to a relatively comfortable - if uninspiring - finish in the Premier League.
Nevertheless, as is the way in football, Bilic has reportedly been warned that his future at the club depends on his team's final two home matches. Unfortunately for him, the sides preparing a visit to the London Stadium are two of the best in the country: Liverpool on Sunday week, and Tottenham this Friday night.
The Hammers have endured a poor run of late, drawing their last three - the most recent of which was a goalless draw away at Stoke - and winning just one of their last nine (including five defeats). Injury doubts over Andy Carroll, Michail Antonio, Gokhan Tore, Angelo Ogbonna and Pedro Obiang will do little for Bilic's optimism.
Tottenham
Spurs looked all but out of the title race a few weeks ago, trailing Chelsea by 10 points in the Premier League. But nine wins in a row - their best run since the double-winning 1960/61 season - has seen them close the gap to just four.
Put simply, no team is playing better football than Spurs at this moment in time - or arguably over the past two seasons. Mauricio Pochettino's men have been unlucky to come up against two teams in blue - Leicester and Chelsea - who have hit peaks of outstanding form while Spurs have merely been consistently excellent.
If you combine the past two seasons, the north Londoners have collected 15 more points (147) than any other side in the Premier League.
Riding high from Sunday's 2-0 victory over bitter rivalsArsenal, it is hard to see where Tottenham's relentless march comes to a halt.
Match Odds
Harry Kane has urged his teammates to heap pressure on Chelsea - who face Middlesbrough at Stamford Bridge on Monday - by collecting all three points against West Ham. "It is good to go first - we have got to try to drop the gap to one point and see what happens," the 23-year-old said.
Spurs come into this one as hot favourites at 1.45 and with Bilic under pressure to pull off a win it is unlikely he can allow his side to just sit back and wait for a spanking. But in many ways that pressure will probably play against him. The more his side push for a win - at odds of 8.60 - the more likely Spurs are to break forward and punish them.
The Hammers had the seventh best home record in their last season at Upton Park but this term find themselves down in 16th after winning just six from 17 games. It is hard to see them improving that record on Friday. The draw can be backed at 5.10.
Over/Under 2.5 Goals
Although West Ham have played out two goalless drawsin a row their games this season have generally been full of them. The Hammers have scored 44 and conceded 55 meaning their fans have witnessed 2.94 goals per game on average.
Spurs have scored 71 - just one behind leaders Chelsea - and have been in rampant form of late, scoring 14 in their last five. It is unsurprising therefore that Over 2.5 Goals is so short at 1.60 and even the combined Over 2.5 Goals/Tottenham win is odds-on at 10/11 on the Sportsbook.
Handicap
What is a more attractive prospect is to look at the visitors in the handicap market.
Five of their last six wins have come by a two goal margin or more, with the anomaly being a 1-0 victory over in-form Crystal Palace. With the title race still very much on and West Ham bang out of form, Tottenham -1 looks a good bet here at odds of 21/20 on the Sportsbook.
First Goalscorer
Kane loves London derbies. The Spurs forward has scored 19 goals in 26 of them (0.73 goals per game) in his short career so far and may be worth a punt to open the scoringon Friday at around 4.00.
Recommended Bet
Back Tottenham -1 @ 21/20
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