Tottenham Hotspur vs West Ham United. Carabao Cup Fourth Round.
Wembley Stadium.
Wednesday 25 October 2017 19:03, UK
Tottenham midfielder Mousa Dembele has returned to training ahead of their Carabao Cup fourth-round clash with West Ham on Wednesday, live on Sky Sports Football from 7.30pm.
The Spurs man, who has been struggling with a hip problem, has not featured since the club's 1-0 success over Barnsley in the previous round on September 19, a run of six games.
Tottenham have won five of them, drawing the other 1-1 against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in the Champions League.
That good form has left them top of Group H in Europe and five points behind pace-setters Manchester City in the Premier League, with Mauricio Pochettino likely to make changes for the resumption of the Carabao Cup.
He told his pre-match press conference: "It is important to keep momentum. If we rotate, we have to show that everyone can help and be a very important part of the team."
Brighton piled more pressure on West Ham boss Slaven Bilic with a 3-0 win at the London Stadium in the Hammers' previous fixture.
They sit 16th in the Premier League table and Michail Antonio admits they will be looking for revenge over Tottenham after a 3-2 defeat in east London in September.
"It's a massive game. Even if it wasn't at Wembley it would be a massive game," Antonio told the club's website.
"Any game between West Ham and Tottenham is massive, especially after they beat us at home, we need to go there and beat them at their home.
"We've got to steady our minds, go there and perform for the fans."
Tottenham midfielder Dembele is back in training following a hip injury and could feature on Wednesday, while Victor Wanyama is continuing his rehabilitation from a knee problem.
Danny Rose could start as he steps up his return but Erik Lamela remains unavailable with a long-term hip complaint.
Bilic has confirmed Adrian will start in goal for West Ham but Antonio misses out due to a rib injury suffered against Brighton.
There's better news on Andy Carroll, who returns from his one-match suspension, while James Collins and Diafra Sakho are back in training as they build-up their fitness.
Tottenham's last three home games against West Ham at home have seen 14 goals (avg 4.7 per game), although this will be their first ever meeting at Wembley.
This will be the ninth meeting across seven ties between these two sides in the League Cup, with the Hammers winning the last encounter back in December 2013 - a 2-1 quarter-final victory at White Hart Lane.
West Ham are looking to reach the quarter-final stage in consecutive campaigns for the first time since 1980-81, the same season they beat Tottenham en route to a final defeat by Liverpool.
West Ham are returning to Wembley for the first time since May 2012 when they beat Blackpool 2-1 in the Championship play-off final - their previous appearance was a League Cup final against Liverpool in 1981.
This could be a feisty one - but I only see one outcome. Mauricio Pochettino impressively exposed Liverpool's vulnerabilities on Sunday and their confidence must be sky high.
This is a good chance to sit Harry Kane, who will hopefully need to rest his hamstring until after the Arsenal game! Fernando Llorente will come in again and Dele Alli will get another game after missing quite a few, meaning Spurs still have plenty of attacking quality.
What does Slaven Billic do? If he plays a strong team, they could still be embarrassed. I'm a fan of Bilic but this is a really average group of players. He's partly responsible but I don't think you should judge him on a match like this.
Charlie predicts: 3-0 and Dele Alli to score first (28/1 with Sky Bet)
Subject to selection, Kane is the 2/1 favourite to score first followed by Fernando Llorente at 5/2, while Heung-min Son is enhanced from 9/2 to 11/2 in Sky Bet's Price Boosts.
Spurs are the 13/2 fourth favourites to lift the trophy with the Hammers priced at 40/1.
