Why Tottenham's slow starts should not prove fatal against West Ham United

«No, no I don't mate. A trend for me goes beyond what's happening right now. I can understand people look for threads but I'm just looking at the overall picture.»

Words spoken by Ange Postecoglou in the wake of Tottenham Hotspur's narrow 2-1 success over Luton Town on the Easter weekend, when asked whether the Lilywhites' alarming lack of first-half goals concerned him.

While the Australian's half-time team talks may go down a treat for the Champions League chasers, building up pre-game motivation appears to be a much taller order for the Tottenham boss, whose side have severely lacked first-half punch as spring approaches.

Since Richarlison showed Everton what they were missing at Goodison Park in February, Spurs have endured six straight Premier League first halves without making the net bulge, and they are remarkably yet to score a home goal in the first 45 minutes of a match in the entirety of 2024.

However, out of the six aforementioned affairs with no Tottenham goals to shout about in the first half, five of them have seen Postecoglou's men light the blue-touch paper in the second period, the outlier being their chastening 3-0 loss to London rivals Fulham.

Another all-capital clash awaits the men in white on Tuesday evening, when the bright lights of the London Stadium will shine down on Postecoglou's men and West Ham United, who ironically cancelled out a first-half Spurs goal with two second-half strikes in December's 2-1 success.

Four months down the line, and all of Tottenham's last 12 goals in the Premier League have been struck in the second half, while West Ham have registered before the break in each of their last three matches across the top flight and Europa