West Ham’s midfield star highlighted in Tottenham marquee matchup

West Ham emerge from the international break with a massive London derby on their doorstep. West Ham are set to host cross London rivals Tottenham Hotspur. Tottenham do have some injuries but they are a deep, strong attacking team and West Ham will need their midfield star to shut down their engine.

That West Ham star, Declan Rice. Tottenham’s engine, Christian Eriksen. The marquee matchup will again happen in the midfield, and despite top competition in Tottenham and Christian Eriksen, this matchup is dictated by West Ham’s strength.

Let’s have a look at Tottenham’s player. Christian Eriksen has played in seven matches this season, tallying one goal in his one Carabao Cup match, and two assists in the six Premier League fixtures he has featured in. It has been a good start for Eriksen, despite injury troubles thus far.

Eriksen missed Denmark international duty in the second break of the season to further rehab and rest the abdominal injury he sustained in late September. Despite being injured, Eriksen did play against Watford on September 26th in their Carabao Cup match that Tottenham took in penalties.

Eriksen is a purely offensive minded player and is a constant threat to jump in the attack or shoot from range. He hangs out in the midfield near the front line but tends to roam where the play does and has a license to jump up in that #10 role when he sees fit. West Ham need to bring pressure and physicality to limit his time on the ball.

And who will do such a task? Declan Rice seems a perfect candidate. Since being reinjected in the starting XI for West Ham’s 3-1 away win at Everton, Rice has looked his usual cool, calm self in midfield. His vision and decision making allows him to be the perfect candidate for the shutdown defensive midfield role required to handle Eriksen and stymy the Tottenham offense.

This role is so crucial because without Eriksen dictating play in the midfield, Tottenham will lack supply to their big striker Harry Kane. Kane is in fine form as assisted two goals in England’s 3-2 win over Spain, so restricting his time with the ball is necessary.

Rice’s positioning has left him solo in front of the back line, as a holding midfielder who contributes more to the defensive side of play than offensive. With reinforcements coming from Pedro Obiang and Mark Noble when required, Rice has settled in comfortably in recent matches. Eriksen isn’t the fastest, but he is a solid dribbler and superb positional player who knows how to lose coverage. It’ll be on Rice to get in his face early and often to disrupt play and get the ball going towards Tottenham’s end.