Tottenham Hotspur welcome Leeds United to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as both teams look to bounce back from Carabao Cup exits.
Victory would see Tottenham climb to third before Newcastle meet Chelsea in a teatime kick-off, whilst Leeds can go 11th with a win if Brentford lose elsewhere at lunchtime.
Team News
Ryan Sessegnon is ruled out for Tottenham with a muscle injury despite completing the entire 90 minutes of Wednesday’s Carabao Cup exit at Nottingham Forest.
Cristian Romero (muscle) and Son Heung-min (eye) both remain absent.
Leeds could be without Patrick Bamford after he missed their midweek Carabao Cup defeat at Wolves with a hip injury.
Jack Harrison (muscle) is also doubtful but Mateusz Klich and Joe Gelhardt are both ruled out with knee injuries.
Luis Sinisterra (foot), Archie Gray (toe), Adam Forshaw (ankle) and Stuart Dallas (thigh) are still sidelined.
Stat Attack
- Tottenham have won three of their last four league meetings against Leeds (W3, L1).
- Leeds have lost each of their last five league visits to Tottenham (L5), since winning 2-1 at White Hart Lane in February 2001.
- Tottenham are yet to concede a penalty kick against Leeds in 28 previous Premier League meetings.
- Spurs are looking to avoid suffering three consecutive home defeats in the Premier League for the first time since May-September 2008.
- Rodrigo has scored first in each of Leeds’ last three league matches (W2, L1).
Prediction
Having produced a flat performance which contained wasted chances up front and a lack of defensive urgency in midweek, Tottenham now need one last huge effort to produce a response before their mid-season break which looks difficult based on their recent performances.
Leeds meanwhile were impressive at Wolves despite a series of changes to the starting line-up yet they were denied by Matija Sarkic’s sublime saves, whilst a late defensive slip of focus ultimately proved costly but I do expect a refreshed line-up here who can attack like they did against Bournemouth last weekend.
Should the visitors indeed turn up and play with the same aggression which saw them overwhelm Bournemouth albeit with better defending, Spurs definitely have to raise their game otherwise this will be an away win.
I though do anticipate Tottenham delivering a crucial reaction to snatch a win but don’t expect any pretty football in North London.
Prediction: Tottenham 2-1 Leeds
Result: Tottenham 4-3 Leeds