Mark Lawrenson predicted West Ham to draw 1-1 with Tottenham on Saturday when the two side’s meet at the London Stadium.
The BBC pundit shared that in order for the Hammers to achieve this positive result against a side expected to finish in the Premier League’s top-six, they would need to ‘hold up’ Harry Kane.
Lawrenson highlighted how well the Spurs forward played for England against Spain during the international break while pinpointing him as the player the Hammers had to focus on.
“Tottenham got the job done in their last game against Cardiff without being too easy on the eye, which has been the story of their season so far,” wrote the pundit in his predictions for BBC Sport.
“Spurs have not been looking that impressive, but that does not matter as long as you keep getting results.
“I keep getting stopped in the street and asked “what is wrong with Liverpool’s front three?” but I just go “played eight, won six, drawn two – yeah, they’ve got massive problems”.
“This will be a tough game for Tottenham, though. West Ham’s revival was ended in their defeat by Brighton, but we know now what they are capable of and I think they are solid enough to hold Spurs.
“The key to that happening is for the Hammers to hold up Harry Kane. He was excellent for England against Spain, so it is West Ham’s turn to deal with him now.”
OPINION
Lawrenson is right in many ways to suggest that the Hammers will give Spurs a tough game. Manuel Pellegrini’s side are more than capable of inflicting defeat on their London rivals on Saturday if they perform to the best of their ability. However to suggest all the Hammers need to do to achieve a positive result against Spurs is to stop Kane is very naive. The Spurs forward maybe in tip-top form once again for his side but he isn’t the only player that the Hammers have to keep an eye on. Mauricio Pochettino’s side possess several attacking players who on their day, could cause the Hammers’ defence to have a nightmare. If the Hammers focused all their efforts on stopping Kane then the likes of Lucas Moura or Christian Eriksen would make the most of the attention being off them by scoring. It’s nice that BBC pundit has some faith in the Hammers, but he clearly is underrating Spurs ahead of Saturday’s clash.
