Tottenham could break unwanted club record in West Ham clash as Premier League worst looms for Ange Postecoglou

Tottenham Hotspur will be at risk of suffering an unwanted club first in the Premier League when they battle West Ham United in Sunday’s top-flight London derby.

After the highs of beating Bodo/Glimt 3-1 in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final, the trip to the London Stadium is arguably an unnecessary distraction for Ange Postecoglou‘s side.

Conceding late on Thursday evening gave Bodo/Glimt a flicker of hope for the imminent return fixture, and Spurs will no doubt be prioritising success in the second leg in Scandinavia.

As far as the Premier League is concerned, Lilywhites are now simply trying to salvage a little pride at the end of an embarrassing campaign, which could still end up being their worst-ever in the competition since 1992.

Tottenham’s 5-1 beatdown at the hands of champions Liverpool last weekend was their 19th top-flight defeat of the season, and they could now lose 20 games in one Premier League campaign for the very first time.

Tottenham at risk of unprecedented number of Premier League defeats

© Imago

The last time Spurs suffered as many as 20 losses in a top-flight season came in the year before the Premier League’s formation in 1991-92, where they finished 15th in the table at the end of a 42-game season.

However, Tottenham come into the weekend one place lower than that in a humbling 16th place in the Premier League standings, and they will be leapfrogged by 17th-placed West Ham if they lose to their London rivals.

Spurs’ recent travails at the London Stadium do not make for positive reading either, as they have failed to win any of their last four away games against the Irons, being held to a 1-1 draw last April.

Postecoglou’s side did rip West Ham to shreds in a 4-1 home win in October, though, and the Hammers have already dropped 14 points from winning positions since Graham Potter took charge.

Both Potter and Postecoglou’s futures have unsurprisingly been hot-button topics amid their side’s domestic plight, but the latter has had players come out in passionate support of him.

James Maddison reaffirmed his commitment to the Australian before the win over Bodo/Glimt, and ahead of the trip to West Ham, it was Brennan Johnson‘s turn to leap to the defence of his boss.

Johnson insists Postecoglou still has the Tottenham dressing room

© Imago

Asked if Postecoglou still had the dressing room on his side, the Wales international responded: “For sure, that’s never been in question,” as quoted by The Mirror.

“Games like Thursday hopefully show that all the lads listen to everything that he says and at the end of the day, especially in the Europa League, the game plans have come off perfectly as you also saw in Frankfurt.

“Hopefully we can do that again next week and get to the final. Momentum is such a big thing in football, we’re looking to get as much momentum going as we can before next week.”

Tottenham will be missing Son Heung-min, Radu Dragusin and new absentee Lucas Bergvall for the journey to the London Stadium, as the latter was recently ruled out for the rest of the season with an ankle injury.

In addition, neither Maddison nor Dominic Solanke are expected to be fit for the all-capital clash, as the English duo both sustained knocks in Thursday’s first-leg win.

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