Republic of Ireland defender Matt Doherty has been ruled out of the Premier League clash between his Tottenham Hotspur side and West Ham United. The Hammers play hosts to Tottenham Hotspur in the London Derby meeting scheduled to take place at the London Stadium on Sunday afternoon and Doherty won’t be in the Spurs squad due to injury.

Tottenham Hotspur boss NunoEspirito Santo gave an update on the Republic of Ireland right-back on Thursday shortly after the disappointing defeat to Dutch team Vitesse Arnhem in the UEFA European Conference League. Ex-Valencia and Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Nuno watched from the Spurs dugout as a much-changed team lost 1-0 to their Dutch hosts.

On Doherty, Nuno said he picked up an injury while he was on national team duty with the Republic of Ireland earlier this month and that he’s positive that the defender will return to training next week. To this effect, Doherty will be absent as Tottenham Hotspur bid to continue their winning run in the Premier League this season.

Spurs are the only team yet to record a draw in the Premier League this season as they have a return of five wins and three defeats from eight games. The North Londoners have a total of 15 points on the league standings and they started the weekend in the top six.

Nuno started his Tottenham Hotspur managerial career with three straight league wins against defending champions Manchester City, former team Wolverhampton Wanderers and newcomers Watford. The three-match winning run preceded a run of three league defeats including a 3-1 loss at Arsenal in the North London Derby. Apart from Arsenal, Spurs also lost to London rivals Crystal Palace and Chelsea.

Since defeat to Arsenal made it three straight losses, Tottenham Hotspur have won all their two league games against Aston Villa and Newcastle United. They can make it three wins in a row with victory over the Hammers later this weekend.