Bilic looks to star man

Davies, meanwhile, twisted his ankle in the 1-0 loss against Bayer Leverkusen at Wembley on November 2, while Lamela is nursing a hip problem, with the Spurs boss ruling all three out of West Ham’s visit on Saturday.

Alderweireld has missed Tottenham’s last six matches after damaging a nerve in his knee in the 1-1 draw at West Bromwich Albion on October 15, and Pochettino was initially positive on the defender’s prognosis, giving him an outside chance of facing Leicester City on October 29.

Having both played for and managed West Ham at their former home, Bilic understands the attachment to Upton Park, but insists the move will be a positive in the long run. This year, though, they reside on 17th position, just a step up from the danger zone.

Kane has played just one match since being sidelined by an ankle injury in September, the 1-1 draw at Arsenal immediately prior to the worldwide break.

Boss Bilic, who made his debut as a West Ham player in a 1-0 win at Spurs in 1996, has had cabbies bending his ear for the past fortnight in the build-up to the game.

With the Hammers struggling to gain positive form in their new stadium, this was the ideal opportunity for Stoke to pick up a vital three points against a struggling side that is being dubbed “too good to go down”.

There is also the small matter of Dimitri Payet. “The goals for and against column need to be adjusted as it could prove to be so important come the end of the season”. There are different things that you can analyse, and then you take a decision.

Toby Alderweireld (knee), Erik Lamela (hip) and Ben Davies (ankle) have been ruled out for Tottenham Hotspur and Dele Alli (knee) is deemed doubtful but the midfielder is back in training and will be assessed on Friday.

All Whites captain Winston Reid is set for a return to the West Ham United line-up for their English Premier League derby match against Tottenham Hotspur this weekend.

And Bilic admitted he admired the way Spurs nurture youngsters like Harry Kane. However, Kane is now back and prved he is back in the groove with a goal against Arsenal last time out.

After both clubs performed well during the last campaign, Stephenson found it hard to see how things were so different this time around: “It seems insane at this time of the year that the objectives of both clubs are so different, he said”.

“It was always and is always going to be a special game, a derby, maybe the biggest game of the season for us when we play them”.

Spent eight years at White Hart Lane as a youngster but played just 21 league games in that time. Despite this, Tottenham are the only unbeaten Premier League side remaining this season.

“Of course, it’s a very tough game – especially away”.

Mauricio Pochettino will continue to weigh up the benefits of a 3-4-3 formation after changing his tactics for the last game against Arsenal, and the Tottenham manager says he could use the same system against West Ham tomorrow. This has a Spurs win written all over it, hence a 2-0 prediction.

Without their star striker, Spurs have lacked a spark in the final third of the pitch and, with Kane’s participation in this fixture far from certain, another low-scoring match seems the most likely outcome when the Hammers visit White Hart Lane.