West Ham v Tottenham | Yellow card provides unexpected boost

Under normal circumstances you’d be pleased to hear of an opponent receiving a yellow card and a ban ahead of a West Ham fixture. Especially if it is the opponent’s skipper. However in this instance matters have worked out rather well for our north London rivals who are visiting on Saturday for the annual north versus east London Derby.

However, in this instance as relayed by the Standard.co.uk the yellow card for Tottenham captain, Argentinian Christian Romero picked up a yellow card in the first of two international fixtures which meant he was suspended for the second, Wednesday morning’s wee small hours clash between Argentina and  Ecuador.

Which means he has already travelled back to London and will be very nicely rested, thank you, ahead of the Saturday London derby. As the Standard observed:

“Footage posted by Spurs on Monday showed the centre-back in training and he will now have a full week with his club team-mates ahead of the return to Premier League action at the London Stadium.”

Unlike West Ham’s Lucas Paquetá who plays his second game for Brazil at 0030 on Wednesday morning and then has the small matter of a 15 hour flight and associated accumulated jet lag before arriving back on Thursday.

Fingers crossed that Paquetá and the other international representatives – including Hammers’ skipper Jarrod Bowen of course (should he not get ignored by Thomas Tuchel again ) arrive safely without the injury scare suffered by Niclas Fullkrug who misses the Tottenham game with a calf injury.

Spuds’ newboy Mohammed Kudus faces possibly the longest journey back from Accra-representing Ghana tonight which last time took some seventeen hours door to door.  Let us hope he returns fit for the London derby, it seems likely that West Ham fans have a special welcome waiting for him.