Nervously I look at the Championship and see that the form side is Millwall. Now 6th they are on fire and have got to be thinking that they can still secure an automatic promotion spot if the current form continues. I was at Upton Park the last time West Ham met Millwall and have no desire to go to another Derby game ever again. In the absence of Millwall our nearest rivals are Spurs who we play at 4PM today at White Hart Lane. The scum. It is more than the fact that Spurs are local rivals.
There is the little matter of Master Defoe. Judas. I am sure that the away supporters today will give him the usual warm greeting every time he touches the ball. The only thing Spurs need to do to really up the ante will be to sign Fat Frank Lampard ( currently evicting his kids 90 year old grannie from the flat he owns) when he leaves Chelski at the end of the season.
We go into the game two points ahead of the scum, on 19 points and in 7th. Win and we go fifth and would be more than half way to safety and just two points behind Chelski. Lose and then we are only nine points ahead of the four teams currently looking the hot bets for the drop (QPR – certain to go down whatever ‘arry tries – Reading, Southampton and Villa). I still look downwards not up.
Due to suspension Spurs will be largely relying on Judas to score. We have Yossi and Vaz Te sidelined. So I guess it is going to be largely down to whether the West Ham midfield dominate (Noble and Nolan are both looking pretty awesome this season) and to whether we can get a few high balls in for Andy Carroll to latch onto. I know he has not yet scored for us but a) he will and b) he is causing all sorts of problems whenever he plays.
On balance, White Hart Lane is not a happy hunting ground for us. Judas has a nasty habit of giving us reason to detest him even more. I would be happy with a point. Three points and that is one FA Cup Final won already.