Tottenham will welcome Leeds United to London this Saturday, looking to get back to winning ways after a poor recent run of form.
Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (London)
Key Statistics
Tottenham have lost three of their last four league games (W1).
They have won all five PL home fixtures against clubs placed below Liverpool.
The hosts have not kept a clean sheet in seven games.
Spurs defender Matt Doherty has won his last five games against Leeds for any club.
Leeds United have one clean sheet in their last 12 games.
They have lost five of their last six away games in all competitions (W1).
Head to head
Both sides have eleven wins apiece in the Premier League. However, Leeds have lost their last two away league games against Spurs.
Latest performances in all competitions
Tottenham: L-L-W-W-D
Leeds United: L-W-W-L-L
Tottenham
Things continue to go bad for Antonio Conte and his Tottenham Hotspur side who come into this tie on the back of an embarrassing exit from the Carabao Cup.
Conte’s men were beaten 2-0 by Nottingham Forest on Wednesday despite starting eight first-team stars including Harry Kane, Ivan Perisic and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and playing against ten men for the last 15 minutes.
The win was their second consecutive loss following a 2-1 loss to Liverpool at home in the Premier League last week. The result means that Tottenham have lost three of their last four league games (W1), with a comeback 3-2 win over lowly Bournemouth the only win in that period.
Although the North Londoners come into this tie still sitting in fourth place, their place is under threat unless results improve drastically. Manager, Conte has not helped the situation of things as his meltdowns on the touchlines and outburst has affected Tottenham negatively.
The feisty Italian has earned two cards in three appearances across all competitions. While he continues to lambast a schedule, he describes as “crazy”, one cannot overlook his team selection as the reason his team have struggled. Spurs’ most recent losses have been down to poor starts, with their second halves better than their first in recent games.
For a club that was considered title challengers by some in September, they certainly have a lot of quality in their ranks to perform better regardless of the excuse of fixture scheduling and injuries. They will want to win here and keep themselves in the top four ahead of the World Cup break.
Their chances of doing so here are high given that they have won all five PL home fixtures against clubs placed below eight-placed Liverpool. They have won each game by an average winning margin of 2.2 goals, so the arrival of Leeds United must be considered an opportunity to bounce back in their final game before the World Cup break.
Possible Tottenham starting line-up
Hugo Lloris; Eric Dier, Clement Lenglet, Ben Davies; Emerson Royal, Rodrigo Bentancur, Pierre Hoejbjerg, Ivan Perisic; Dejan Kulusevski, Harry Kane, Richarlison.
Injured: Son Heung-min, Cristian Romero
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Leeds United
Leeds United will look to make it three league wins in a row when they travel to North London on Saturday.
The visitors are currently on a purple patch, having pulled off great performances in their last two league games to win games they were not expected to win. The last of those wins came against Bournemouth last weekend in a game Leeds were losing 1-3 heading towards the hour mark.
But three goals in 24 minutes through Sam Greenwood, Liam Cooper and the in-form Crysencio Summerville gave Jesse Marsch’s men maximum points and took them to 12th position.
Marsch described the win as “hard to put into words” and he will hope for the same performance against Spurs. After becoming the first Premier League team to beat Liverpool at Anfield in 30 games about three weeks ago, Leeds might now travel to London feeling invincible.
However, the Whites are yet to win away to Spurs since rejoining the top flight (L2) and might struggle to continue their upward trajectory in this game. They will also be desperate to avoid conceding the opening goal, considering Tottenham’s PL record of W5, D1 when scoring first.
Possible Leeds United starting line-up
Illan Meslier; Nissen Kristensen, Robin Koch, Liam Cooper, Pascal Struijk; Marc Roca, Tyler Adams; Jack Harrison, Brenden Aaronson, Crysencio Summerville; Rodrigo Moreno.
Injured: Joe Gerhardt, Luis Sinisterra, Archie Gray, Adam Forshaw
Doubtful: Patrick Bamford
Suspended: None
Prediction
Tottenham 2-1 Leeds United
