Jan Vertonghen and his Tottenham team-mates are ready for a lunchtime scrap with “fighter” Andy Carroll.
The fit-again West Ham striker used his physicality to help hustle Huddersfield out of the points last Monday night at the London Stadium.
And powerful Carroll is now being primed to maintain the Hammers’ fine recent hold over their capital rivals when they host Saturday's lunchtime showdown.
Boss Slaven Bilic has masterminded West Ham wins in their last two home games against their Mauricio Pochettino-led neighbours — the most recent, in May, all but ended Spurs’ title challenge .
But Vertonghen is confident his team’s combined defensive strength will nullify the Irons’ towering Geordie target man.
“Andy Carroll is a great striker,” said the Belgium international centre-back. “He is very difficult to play against. But I think our defence have showed that we can play against every type of striker. So I’m not afraid.
“He’s a very big guy. He’s a fighter. He’s very strong in the air and I think he fits the game that West Ham wants to play. Hopefully he can stay fit for a while. He’s struggled a bit on that, but he’s a good player and a tough player to play against.”
Tottenham ended last season with the best defensive record in the Premier League. A year before, they shared that distinction with Manchester United.
West Ham, however, will also be able to call on £17million summer buy Javier Hernandez, whose goal-scoring heroics at Man United and Bayer Leverkusen mean Spurs are in for another tough afternoon.
Vertonghen added: “Hernandez is totally different to Carroll so I think they can play two styles. Maybe they can even play together.
“[Hernandez] is tough to play against. Maybe he is not that involved in the game but you can’t lose him, especially in the box. He is so dangerous. So we’ll see how we get on.
“It will be a tough game. It’s a London derby and obviously it’s very hostile over there so we have to be ready for it — but I feel we are. It’s a very important game because we drew last week, so this is a must-win game.
“It’s a derby. We’ve got that feeling in certain games and yeah, it’s what makes football beautiful. It’s a good atmosphere to play there, it’s what you’re a football player for. So I’m looking forward to it.”
After being held to a goalless draw at home to Swansea last Saturday, Pochettino and his players will be looking to respond to suggestions that they will struggle to summon up a third successive title bid.
Both Manchester clubs have been buried under an avalanche of praise after impressive starts to the season.
But with Spurs settling into Wembley and the likes of Victor Wanyama and Danny Rose still to come back from injury, Vertonghen remains unruffled.
“We’ve played five games,” he smiled. “They still have to go to the most difficult places and we still have to. They [City] started very well last season [and ended up fourth].
“Obviously, there are a couple of teams that have started well now, but I feel that we will get stronger. We are still missing a couple of guys. When they come back, we’ll be at our best then in different competitions.
“Because we’re a young team, it’s important for us to stay together and we’ve done that, apart from one or two guys. I think this team wants to stay together. Because we’re young, we learn from each other. We learn every day and I think we only can get better.”