Paul Merson now predicts the result of Tottenham vs West Ham clash

Paul Merson has backed Tottenham Hotspur to pick up a narrow win over West Ham United on Thursday evening.

Writing in his latest column for Sportskeeda, the Arsenal legend feels Ange Postecoglou’s men will be boosted by a positive result at Manchester City.

Spurs picked up a 3-3 draw at the Etihad Stadium against all odds on Sunday, with Postecoglou currently dealing with several key absences.

As for West Ham, they were held to a 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace last time out after taking the lead at the London Stadium.

David Moyes currently has the Hammers sitting ninth, just six points behind Spurs heading into Thursday’s clash.

But Paul Merson is backing Tottenham to pick up a 2-1 win over Moyes’ men this week.

Merson predicts Tottenham vs West Ham clash

Writing for Sportskeeda, Merson praised Tottenham for picking up an unexpected result at City on Sunday.

“This is another difficult game – they’re coming thick and fast for Tottenham,” he wrote. “You’ve got to give credit where it’s due – they did well against Man City yesterday.

“They fell behind and came back twice – fair play to them. You’ve got to ride your luck against City, and they picked the right passes on the counter.

“Tottenham were bang unlucky against Chelsea. They’ve had a lot of injuries, and they’ve played against good teams during this period.

“You can’t afford that against the top teams. If Arsenal had those injuries, they wouldn’t have done well either.

“Tottenham will take a lot of encouragement from the City game, but they’ll need to step up here and get a result against West Ham. If they don’t, the draw against City would’ve been a waste of time. I think this is a good week for Tottenham, and they should be able to defeat West Ham on Thursday.”

Spurs certainly deserved a point on Sunday after such a spirited second-half performance.

They were once again without the likes of Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and James Maddison.

But Tottenham will be boosted by the return of Romero on Thursday after Postecoglou has played without a recognised centre-back in his last two games.

In our view, Tottenham will get back to winning ways and pick up a much-needed three points against the Hammers. But it will be a close game as West Ham will make things difficult for Spurs as they will look to soak up pressure and hit them on the counter.