West Ham throw down the gauntlet but be warned.. Jose Mourinho relishes the limelight

As away trips outside the top six for a new Tottenham manager go, London rivals West Ham United would perhaps be the most daunting.

Soon after Jose Mourinho's appointment on Wednesday morning, West Ham's Twitter team released a video throwing down the gauntlet ahead of today's clash - a video montage of Mourinho's worst moments against the Hammers while at Manchester United and Chelsea, captioned 'See you Saturday, Jose'.

Since deleted, it certainly ruffled the feathers online - but if there's one bear you really don't want to bait, it's Jose.

What's more, the mercurial 56-year-old's record against West Ham, coupled with his impressive opening-game showings in the past, means it wouldn't be surprising to see the home side with egg on their face come 2:30pm.

Mourinho has undoubtedly had a couple of skirmishes with West Ham in the past. After an winning steak of five games stretching over eight years, he first came unstuck in January 2014.

A West Ham side managed by Sam Allardyce came to Stamford Bridge and largely shut up shop for 90 minutes and a incandescent Mourinho called it 'football from the 19th century' afterwards.

To the shock of absolutely nobody, Allardyce did not care.

18 months later, and a first defeat for Mourinho against the Irons. 2-1, at Upton Park, and the then-Chelsea gaffer was sent to the stands after confronting referee Jon Moss at half-time over Nemanja Matic's sending off.

Mourinho, who won his third Premier League title the previous season, was sacked two months later.

Mourinho also failed to win during his last two visits to the London Stadium - a goalless draw at the back end of the 2017-18 season (when United finished runners-up to centurions Manchester City ) was followed in September 2018 by a 3-1 defeat which signalled United's worst start to a season in 29 years.

So while West Ham's recent history against the Portuguese may be favourable, he still boasts a formidable record in his first game at a new club.

He has not lost since his first ever managerial job at Benfica in 2000, and his first game as Manchester United boss was an away win at Bournemouth three years ago.

But, for the first time since Porto in 2002, Mourinho will take charge of his first game in the middle of a season, and he has only had three days preparation for this afternoon's clash.

Is that enough time to put your mark on the team for a fiery derby? Can a side bereft of confidence re-discover that knack on a short turnaround? Will Mourinho make any drastic changes of personnel, given Spurs' dire winless away record in the Premier League stretching back to January?

Eyes will be glued to east London come kick-off at 12:30. And not just on the pitch... but on the touchline too.

Fellow former Real Madrid boss Manuel Pellegrini is in the opposition dug-out, and the pair haven't seen eye-to-eye since way back in 2010, when Mourinho was critical of the Chilean taking up a job at Malaga whilst he took the reigns at the Bernabeu.

A game which does not need any extra spice very much has it late in November. A West Ham win, and they will leapfrog their opponents in the table and humiliate the new man at the helm.

A Tottenham win, and the team behind Spurs's Twitter page will be licking their lips. But much more importantly, it could be the ultimate catalyst for Harry Kane and co. this season, and an ideal start to Mourinho's reign at his new club.